World's first plastic magnet passes "test"

<body leftmargin="0" bgcolor="#000060" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFF00" vlink="#FF9900"> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="Arial" size="4">World's first plastic magnet passes "test"</font></b> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="1">Posted August 24, 2004<br> World Science Staff</font> </p> <p><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>The world's first plastic magnet to work at room temperature has passed the elementary test of magnetism, the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com" target="_top">New Scientist</a> magazine reported. The magnet’s creators at the University of Durham, UK, have used it to pick up iron filings from a laboratory bench, according to the publication.<o:p> </o:p> </b></font></p> <p><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>In 2001, chemists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln claimed to have created the world's first plastic magnet, but it only worked below the extremely low temperature of 10 degrees kelvin. Other researchers have made plastic magnets, but typically they only function at extremely low temperatures, the publication reported, or their magnetism at room temperature is too weak to be of commercial use. <o:p> </o:p> </b></font></p> <p><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>So the Durham team can claim to have made the first plastic magnet that could be used in everyday products, acording to the magazine. One of the most likely applications is in the magnetic coating of computer hard discs, which could lead to a new generation of high-capacity discs. <o:p> </o:p> </b></font></p> <font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>Jerry Torrance, a materials scientist based in California who is a consultant to some of the world's largest electronics and engineering companies, including IBM, told the magazine the work is "a significant scientific breakthrough” but that practical applications are probably still a long way off.</b></font> </body>