Electro POP
I decided to assess whether or not a magnet (a big round one with a rubber handle) would be able to pull a steel shirt pin from one of the lower 2 holes in a plug socket.

My answer is no. There are 3 obervations i can now make.

1. Pins cannot handle 240v@50Hz. They melt and only leave a burn mark. I suspect - as no matter can be created or lost in such transformations - that they became (2)
2. Many sparks of bright light - akin to welding - flew off in all directions. These little starlets of light were actually molten burning steel.
3. The magnet had a big melted groove and blackened spot where contact was made. The plug socket had similar burns on it - rendering it useless.

It was during the Grand Prix, and the loss of power made my dad proper angry.
My excuse didn't work - "The pin fell into the socket and i was just trying to get it out"

I was reminded of this tale on the occasion i screwed through a power cable that shouldn't have been there (cheers builders you corner cutting chimps).
( bazza van der trance , ooh baby baby, baby baby. Get up on this., Mon 28 Jul 2008, 16:34, Reply)