It might vary with the type of phone. I sit pretty well all day inside a 5 Gauss line, and my smartphone is often inside the 50 Gauss line. I decided to check the compass while walking in to work this morning, and it worked just fine. One thing I have noticed is that some phones have a magnetic field sensor in them which is designed to place the phone into standby mode when placed in the holster, which contains a magnet. My phone goes into standby when I cross the 15 Gauss line of so. I did have an older (not so smart) phone from Motorola that would re-boot if I moved through the field too quickly. I think this was a case of the combination of field and motion inducing currents in the phone circuitry.
My wife's hearing aid switches into "telecoil" mode when she is close to the magnet.
Cheers
Kirk Marat, Ph. D. NMR Facility Manager
Dept. of Chemistry, University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3T 2N2, Canada
Ph: (204) 474-6259 FAX: (204) 474-7608
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rainer Haessner [mailto:rainer.haessner_at_tum.de]
> Sent: February 19, 2013 4:45 PM
> To: Voehler, Markus W
> Cc: ammrl_at_ammrl.org
> Subject: Re: AMMRL: cell phones in NMR labs - Summary
>
> Hi,
>
> in my opinion the summary might be a little bit misleading. Cellular phones old styles are
> insensitive with respect to magnetic fields as desribed.
> The opposite is true for smartphones. They are especially made (at least most of them) to
> detect magnetic fields and their orientation. You might download an app to see the
> distribution of magnetic fields inside your lab.
> But the corresponding sensor becomes destroyed temporarily (about one week) keeping
> the smartphone inside the 2G (!) line and never again works as intended having the
> smartphone inside the 50 G line.
>
> Greetings
>
> Rainer
>
>
>
>
> Am 20.02.2013 um 02:14 schrieb "Voehler, Markus W" <m.voehler_at_Vanderbilt.Edu>:
>
> > Dear AMMRL'er
> >
> > Thanks to everybody who responded to my initial question as restated below. The
> overwhelming consensus of all responses was that today's cell phones 1) are containing
> little to no magnetic components, hence no dangerous attraction to the magnet, 2) have
> never been destroyed even when brought close to a high field (900MHz) magnet, 3) the
> largest effect described was a loss of some functionality when inside a high field but full
> recovery outside again - maybe with the exception of an internal gyroscope or vibrator.
> > There were some precautions mentioned: 1) some loudspeakers might contain small
> magnets to be careful off, 2) some older batteries might not like the high field (magnetic
> parts, connections) and 3) some people just don't bring the phone close the the magnet, in
> particular underneath when changing probes or tuning.
> > My conclusion is to move forward and make my own experience!
> > Thanks again,
> > Markus
> >
> >
> >
> > On Feb 11, 2013, at 2:34 PM, Voehler, Markus W wrote:
> >
> >> Dear AMMRL members
> >>
> >> I was wondering whether you had any input on the use of cell phones near magnets. I
> am still using the "antiquated" pager, which is great in ONE aspect: I can wear around
> magnets without any harm. Is this also the case for cell phones or any particular model of
> phones? I know that I will forget to take off the cell phone at some point when working in
> the lab and would hate for the phone to be damaged because of this. Not having it with me
> all the time on the other side would not fulfill its purpose.
> >>
> >> Thanks for you input in advance,
> >> Markus
> >>
> >> zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
> >> Markus Voehler, Ph.D.
> >> Director of Operations Biomolecular NMR Facility,
> >> Research Assistant Professor
> >> Vanderbilt University
> >> VU-Station B 35-1822
> >> Nashville, TN, 37235-1822
> >>
> >> Office +1 615 322-1573
> >> Lab +1 615- 322 1570
> >> Pager +1 615 201 1123
> >> zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
> >
> >
> >
Received on Fri Feb 22 2013 - 06:31:54 MST