In the middle of his campaign speech, Donald Trump launched a furious attack on magnets.
He claimed that they can be destroyed by a glass of water.
– Trump is completely wrong, of course, but I can actually give him a little bit of the right, says Olle Eriksson, professor of theoretical magnetism.
With just over a week until the first primaries, Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Mason City, Iowa on Friday. He made customary outbursts against political opponents and defended those who were convicted after the storming of the US Congress three years ago.
But some of the headlines were about an attack on a more unexpected enemy: Magnets.
– All I know about magnets is this: Give me a glass of water and let me pour it on the magnets. It’s the end of the magnets, Trump said.
Angry at aircraft carriers
The clip was spread on social media and provoked several derisive comments against the ex-president, writes Newsweek.
But there is a context.
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Donald Trump during the campaign speech in Mason City.
1 / 2Photo: Charlie Neibergall / AP
According to Business Insider Trump’s ire was directed at the state-of-the-art aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford and its new catapult system used when the planes are about to take off.
– They had a cost of 900 million dollars for these stupid electric catapults that didn’t work. They spent almost a billion on magnetic lifts, he said, then went on to make his claim about water as a magnet killer.
Professor: Not true
For all intents and purposes, Trump can be considered justified in his anger. The new electromagnetic catapult has had recurring problems on the aircraft carrier and as recently as February reported Maritime Executive magazine that the Pentagon continued to investigate why.
But that magnets can be knocked out by water is wrong.
– That is not true, says Olle Eriksson, professor of theoretical magnetism at Uppsala University.
– They can in and of themselves rust, but then you have to pour water and wait a year or so. However, a magnet can stop working if you heat it up. All magnets have a critical temperature. For iron it is 700 degrees.
Two types of magnets
Whether Trump confused magnets with electrical circuits is unclear, but previous statements in his recurring fixation at the new aircraft carrier could indicate that.
In a 2021 interview cited by Business Insider, Trump said:
– I have said that magnets will not work. Give me a glass of water and throw it at the magnets and the system will be completely shorted out. They said: How do you know that? I said: Because I know it.
Olle Eriksson explains that there are other ways to knock out magnets:
– Trump is completely wrong, of course, but I can actually agree with him a little. Some magnets can lose their magnetism just by being turned on or dropped on the floor. We usually call these soft magnets.
– But most people use in practice are so-called hard magnets. They retain their properties even if you drop a glass on them or whatever.