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real question about magnets


Airehead

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Magnets should not contain lead.  If they are painted, the paint may contain lead.  Most serious threat with magnets, esp the really strong magnets and kids is the swallowing hazard, esp if two are swallowed as they can cause problems in the intestines I believe.

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1 minute ago, jsharr said:

Magnets should not contain lead.  If they are painted, the paint may contain lead.  Most serious threat with magnets, esp the really strong magnets and kids is the swallowing hazard, esp if two are swallowed as they can lead to problems in the intestines I believe.

FIFY

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Just now, Road Runner said:

I wouldn't think any reputable manufacturer of magnets would allow any lead in their product.  What would be the advantage to that?

The Chinese have to do something with all the excess lead now that they can't paint toys with it.

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thanks-- you all confirm what I was thinking.  It was a school supply catalog but you still have to be cautious.  i found some other ones without a lead warning.   I'm thinking it must have been the paint.

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8 minutes ago, jsharr said:

The Chinese have to do something with all the excess lead now that they can't paint toys with it.

But lead has a beneficial function in paint.  It reduces drying time and increases durability.  If you don't ingest it, it is fine.  

There would be no logical reason to add lead to a magnet.  In fact, any contamination of a magnet with a heavy metal would probably reduce the effective power of the magnet.  

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10 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

But lead has a beneficial function in paint.  It reduces drying time and increases durability.  If you don't ingest it, it is fine.  

There would be no logical reason to add lead to a magnet.  In fact, any contamination of a magnet with a heavy metal would probably reduce the effective power of the magnet.  

agree with you--- problem is I have 430 students in my care that have significant disabilities.  Many of them eat non-food items unofficially and some officially have pica.  We have to be so very careful.

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4 minutes ago, Airehead said:

agree with you--- problem is I have 430 students in my care that have significant disabilities.  Many of them eat non-food items unofficially and some officially have pica.  We have to be so very careful.

since magnets can be made from natural materials mined from the ground such as loadstone there is no telling what a Chinese magnet factory might be putting into the pressing machine to make the devices.  Here in CT there was a case of parents buying a magnetic bracelet for their nine year old and after the child got sick the bracelet (or at least the beads on the bracelet) tested out at about 170 times the allowable amount of lead.

If this is an attempt to start a magnet school I'd recommend against it.

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1 hour ago, Road Runner said:

Actually, there is no lead in a pencil, either.  :D

 

The original pencils were made with lead but I think the maggots ate all the lead and got lead poisoning so they switched to making them with graphite. Graphite is safe to eat and breathe, at least that’s what they told us at the forge.?

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On 5/15/2019 at 1:28 PM, Airehead said:

agree with you--- problem is I have 430 students in my care that have significant disabilities.  Many of them eat non-food items unofficially and some officially have pica.  We have to be so very careful.

...if that's your situation, you ought to be concerned about the tiny, super strong ones that are used in so many applications.

 

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On 5/15/2019 at 3:54 PM, Airehead said:

Do magnets contain lead?  I just went to order some for a classroom and there is a lead warning on the order.  Trying to understand.  

They shouldn't, since lead is not magnetic in the normal sense.

If there's lead in it, maybe part of it was made with scrap metal that included traces of lead.

But you can't magnetize lead to make a magnet.

The details of why if you want them:

Magnetic metals have an significant excess of d or f electrons that spin in the same direction.  The spinning electrons are effectively an electric current and you need electric currents to create magnetism.  electrons of the same kind that spin in opposite directions cancel out the magnetism.

To have an excess spinning in one direction you can't have full-suborbitals, 10 d's or 14 f's, in the outer electron layers or else they pair-up with opposite spins in each pair. The opposite spins cancel out magnetism.  Lead's electron configuration is like Xenon (full suborbitals) then 4f145d106s26p The two 6p electrons spin in the same direction but p electrons effectively create weak currents so they contribute too weakly to magnetism compared to d and f electrons and won't make a magnet.

Lead has an equal number of d and f electrons that spin in opposite directions, canceling out the ability to become a magnet.

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29 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

They shouldn't, since lead is not magnetic in the normal sense.

If there's lead in it, maybe part of it was made with scrap metal that included traces of lead.

But you can't magnetize lead to make a magnet.

The details of why if you want them:

Magnetic metals have an significant excess of d or f electrons that spin in the same direction.  The spinning electrons are effectively an electric current and you need electric currents to create magnetism.  electrons of the same kind that spin in opposite directions cancel out the magnetism.

To have an excess spinning in one direction you can't have full-suborbitals, 10 d's or 14 f's, in the outer electron layers or else they pair-up with opposite spins in each pair. The opposite spins cancel out magnetism.  Lead's electron configuration is like Xenon (full suborbitals) then 4f145d106s26p The two 6p electrons spin in the same direction but p electrons effectively create weak currents so they contribute too weakly to magnetism compared to d and f electrons and won't make a magnet.

Lead has an equal number of d and f electrons that spin in opposite directions, canceling out the ability to become a magnet.

Thank God he used his talent for the good   :nodhead:

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