A video began surfacing on social media showing a woman that places a magnet on the spot where she claims she received the Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine. The magnet appears to stick to her left shoulder and she shows how it won't stick to the other side. Is this true? Let's investigate.
The link to the video is here on Facebook, though it may be taken down by the time you read this article. It started on WhatsApp it appears and has since been seen on Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitter.
How do I know it is fake?
The woman in the video knows it is fake herself and she proves this by her actions. We'll get to that later. First, let's cover some basic reason and science-sense.
Firstly, the magnet she chose. Any lightweight, smooth, flat surface will stick to your skin. Almost anywhere on your body. You don't believe me? Try it yourself. You can do this with a small flat battery, a penny, or even a bottle cap! Notice that they stick to you anywhere on your body for a brief time. Humidity is a factor that helps with sticking. For irregular surfaces like with a coin, one can cheat a little by licking it. Having oily or lotiony skin can help too. Doubled-side tape can do the same trick as well. These are actually old magic tricks. Very dry or powdered skin doesn't work well. True magnets don't care about a smooth or slippery surface.
What's happening?
In the video, the magnet (which also looks like a flat battery) is placed on the skin, air rushes out, this creates a vacuum. This allows the object to stick to her skin. Again, the smoother the better! Many of us have created vacuums with plastic soda bottles. If you suck the air out and stick your tongue inside, what happens? That's right, your tongue tries to go into the bottle to fill that space. This is the same principle. Except here, the object is sucking your skin. :-) The guy in the image below has skin that displaces air easily allowing objects to stick to him. But, any sweaty, oily person with loose skin can do this.
Seriously Weak Magnetic Fields
Firstly, even if metallic or even magnetic nanoparticles were in her arm, the magnetic field wouldn't be strong enough to have objects stick to that spot. The injection site is deep into the muscle, not just under the skin. The mRNA vaccines are about 0.3 ml and are mostly water (notice that it's very clear). Any magnetic particles wouldn't be concentrated enough to allow magnetic stickage. Think of it this way, humans have even more iron in their blood and tissues, yet, magnets are not sticking to us. The vacuum force is more than sufficient.
Purposeful Deception
In the video, the woman attempts to show us that her other arm is not affected. She proceeds to tap her arm with the metallic object and gives up. She didn't even try to place it flat on her arm which would push the air out. That's because this would have displaced the air, it would have stuck, and the con would have been revealed. The magnet would have stuck to that side just as easily as it did the vaccinated side.
Some people claim to feel a pull when they have tried this. This is likely a self-hypnotic effect akin to the ideomotor effect. The expectation produces a false sensation caused by slight unconscious movements. Electrostatic forces can be felt as well under the right conditions (like a balloon sticking to you).
Do This Experiment Yourself
Here's an experiment that you can do that was provided by Jack Wathey:
1.) Get yourself a good compass.
2.) Put it near some weak magnet, like one of those flexible rubbery refrigerator magnets.
3.) Move the compass around the magnet and see how the needle behaves.
4.) It will be pretty obvious that the thing is a magnet.
5.) Repeat that procedure with a piece of wood (without any nails in it!) and see how the compass is unaffected by it.
6.) Now repeat this procedure with people's arms, vaccinated or unvaccinated. Are they more like the wood or more like the refrigerator magnet?
Do this three times and record your data.
If you did this experiment properly, it would be difficult to argue that the vaccines are magnetic.
Conclusion of the Video: It's fake.
I hope that helps if you were fooled by this video.
Keep thinking, analyzing, and being curious, but find scientific answers.... please.
-- Reginald Finley, M.Ed., M.Sc. Ph.D(c).