At 11.7 teslas, it is 234,000 times more powerful than the Earth’s natural magnetic field. The University of Florida Brain Institute lays claim to having the largest magnet used for body imaging, a 24-ton behemoth that can explore a long list of injuries and diseases of the brain and spinal cord. While the NHMFL may focus on pure research, much of the development work going into high-powered magnets is being driven by medical needs. “It has met all of our expectations and then some,” he says. The research benefits of the magnet have exceeded Crow’s hopes. Semiconductors may switch back and forth between conducting and nonconducting states.Ĭrow says the power of the Florida magnet will be increased to 47 or 48 teslas by 2005 and will reach 50 teslas by 2008. When magnetic fields exceed 35 teslas, normal properties of materials may morph. Electrons, for example, have been shown to dance in their orbits.

Strange things happen when materials are subjected to extremely high magnetic forces. The sample would be contained in a thermos-like bottle to keep temperatures down. A typical project may involve a test sample with the diameter of a No. In the center of the complex contraption sits a massive electromagnet–that is, a very large resistive magnet.ĭespite the size of the NHMFL system, the target area for conducting experiments is extremely small. This is done using a superfluid helium cryogenic system–the only such system in the United States specifically created for magnetic use. It’s the largest cable-in-conduit magnet ever built, and must remain chilled to near absolute zero. A supercooled, superconducting magnet forms the outer layer. The Florida system, shown here, essentially consists of two giant magnets working together. If you’re envisioning a giant horseshoe, you will be disappointed. The magnet developed by the NHMFL represents an engineering milestone on the order of building the space station, says NHMFL director Jack Crow. That’s enough to make conventional electronic and magnetic materials behave very differently than they do normally. tall, it has a magnetic field of 45 teslas, about a million times more powerful than the Earth’s magnetic field. Researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) in Tallahassee, Fla., currently hold the record with a hybrid magnet system they put into operation in December 1999. For reasons that range from the basic “What if?” of pure science to the need to improve medical imaging devices, tremendous efforts are under way to develop more powerful magnets. While it’s unlikely anything man-made will ever come close to the power of a magnetar, it’s not for lack of trying. With a magnetic-field strength of 100 billion teslas, it dwarfs that of the Earth, whose magnetic field measures just 0.00005 tesla. Only 10 of these unusual objects have been discovered.

The “magnetar,” or magnetic neutron star known as Soft Gamma Repeater 1806-20, is the most powerful known magnetic object in the universe.

It casts enough magnetic force to slow a locomotive from a quarter-million miles away–the distance of the Earth from the moon. World’s most strongest magnet & The World’s Most Powerful Magnet

Strongest magnet