The RM poles induce temporary poles of opposite polarity in the refrigerator door, enabling the RM to stick to the door. This site explores RM-based experiments that use these unusual striped structures to demonstrate a number of principles. Patrick Doolan has constructed a magnetic worm gear system using refrigerator magnets. The alternating north and south magnetic fields act as the teeth of a gear. The gear system can operate without physical contact between the two gears.
Different materials respond to applied stresses in different ways.
How a material will respond depends on the arrangement of atoms in the material and how these atoms are bonded together. We have found that flexible sheet refrigerator magnets can be used to show macroscopically how salts and metals respond to an applied stress. The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.