Human magnet

Human magnets are people who can stick various metallic objects to their skin for some time, allegedly due to some kind of "magnetic" properties.

While it's a neat parlour trick, this is nothing paranormal. The "stickiness" is explained with literal stickiness — the natural skin secretions of these people make their skin unusually adhesive. This also explains why "human magnets" can "attract" non-magnetic materials like aluminum and plastic. James Randi dealt with several of them and suggests using talcum powder to dry the skin before testing. Another possibility is using a thin sheet of (dry) plastic — in both cases, the thin layer of material wouldn't be a problem for a true magnetic field.^{[1] [2]}

External links

• Archive copy at the Wayback Machine "Same Old Magnetic Flummery", Randi's SWIFT Commentary, 27 August 2004
• 'Magnetic' boy shows off skills (video), Telegraph.co.uk, 13 May 2011
• Archive copy at the Wayback Machine Talcum Powder Cures Magnetism], Randi's SWIFT Blog, 17 May 2011

References