If you wrap an active electric cord around your body, do you become an electromagnet?

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tykoyz · Accepted Answer

No. The power cord on a vacuum cleaner has both supply and return conductors, which produce opposing magnetic fields. The region of nonzero magnetic field is limited to a few cable diameters away from the cable.Also the magnetic field due to an alternating current changes direction at 50-60 Hz, depending on your local power supply frequency.If you wanted to turn yourself into an electromagnet you&#039;d need to separate the hot and neutral conductors in the power cord, and wrap one around you clockwise and the other counterclockwise. Then the fields due to the two currents would add. You could convert to direct current if the alternation of the field direction bothers you. However since biological tissue is not ferromagnetic, the physical effects on you are pretty tiny.

Lorena Lester · Accepted Answer

The answer is no, because the electric field of each wire cancels the field of the other wire. But even if you wrap yourself many times with one wire and connect the ends to electric power, you will not become a &quot;measurable&quot; electro-magnet. The reason for this is that the amount of ferromagnetic material in your body (blood iron, etc.), is very small.

If you wrap an active electric cord around your body, do you become an electromagnet?

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