• Calatia@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Magnets are very weird. Up until now, we don’t really know what causes magnetism or how it works. We just know some rocks have it and others don’t. Also, magents aren’t super massively available in nature.

    I’d hazzard a guess that guy refers to magnets the same way we SHOULD treat helium. It’s a precious rare non renewable resource and we squander it like it’s nothing.

      • Hyperi0n@lemmy.film
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        1 year ago

        No you can’t. At least not what they are talking about. Rare Earth Megnets have Rare in the name for a reason.

        • Action Bastard@lemmy.world@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Mate, you’re talking out your ass. Neodynium is a rare metal, yes. But we’re not going through neodymium deposits fishing out magnets like they’re some sort of gemstone.

          That shit gets mined, melted, alloyed with other minerals, smelted into shape then run through magnetic field generators to induce a magnetic charge in them, as just a very rough overall view of the process.

          The biggest issue is that making them is INCREDIBLY material inefficient. Making one really good quality magnet requires an absolute fucking shit ton of processing, all of which reduces yield and increases waste product generation every step of the way.