Any reason an aluminum pitcher would work on stir plate?

[Special Hops]

Shouldn't interfere with magnets should it?

 

[cfonnes]

No it should not. If it has a flat bottom it should work fine.

Let us know if it makes a lot of noise.

 

[maida7]

The stir bar may wear a hole in the aluminum. Aluminum is very soft and wears easily.

 

[CryoEng]

Not totally true. The aluminum is not ferrous or "magnetic" true.

However, aluminum is conductive. The spinning magnets will induce electric currents which will interact with the magnetic fields, and so on, and so forth.

Ever seen a sensitive mechanical balance (scale)? Often there will be a magnet (often horseshoe or similar) and a simple piece of thin aluminum plate which moves inside the magnetic field. The motion induces electric current in the plate. The electric current interacts with the magnetic field. The result is a nice dampening of the motion without mechanical contact.

Try it and see what happens. You may not get much movement from the stirbar or you may get some odd motions (throwing the thing around in the container.)

In my younger days, I could have applied Maxwell's Equations and told you what would happen. These days, eh, give it a try and see....

Cheers!

 

[Special Hops]

Not totally true. The aluminum is not ferrous or "magnetic" true.

However, aluminum is conductive. The spinning magnets will induce electric currents which will interact with the magnetic fields, and so on, and so forth.

Ever seen a sensitive mechanical balance (scale)? Often there will be a magnet (often horseshoe or similar) and a simple piece of thin aluminum plate which moves inside the magnetic field. The motion induces electric current in the plate. The electric current interacts with the magnetic field. The result is a nice dampening of the motion without mechanical contact.

Try it and see what happens. You may not get much movement from the stirbar or you may get some odd motions (throwing the thing around in the container.)

In my younger days, I could have applied Maxwell's Equations and told you what would happen. These days, eh, give it a try and see....

Cheers!

That's the type of info I was looking for. Thanks. Gotta build my stir plate first. But I will give it a shot and try it.

 

[HangLoose]

Not totally true. The aluminum is not ferrous or "magnetic" true.

However, aluminum is conductive. The spinning magnets will induce electric currents which will interact with the magnetic fields, and so on, and so forth.

Ever seen a sensitive mechanical balance (scale)? Often there will be a magnet (often horseshoe or similar) and a simple piece of thin aluminum plate which moves inside the magnetic field. The motion induces electric current in the plate. The electric current interacts with the magnetic field. The result is a nice dampening of the motion without mechanical contact.

Try it and see what happens. You may not get much movement from the stirbar or you may get some odd motions (throwing the thing around in the container.)
In my younger days, I could have applied Maxwell's Equations and told you what would happen. These days, eh, give it a try and see....

Cheers!

+ 1
Take a strong magnet and slide it across a sheet of aluminum, you'll find quite a bit of resistance. I wouldn't do it.

 

[pelipen]

+ 1
Take a strong magnet and slide it across a sheet of aluminum, you'll find quite a bit of resistance. I wouldn't do it.

If you want a fun illustration of this, put your magnet in the bottom of an aluminum pot, then try to swirl it around. It will "glue" itself to the bottom.