My Katana vs. Android Tablet
Feb 21, 2013 22:08:00 GMT
Post by R.Fiend on Feb 21, 2013 22:08:00 GMT
Pleasure to meet you all!
My story is not exactly about swords or weapons, and it was never really intended to be, so be patient and you’ll see why I am here. If you like the topic of software development, or even if you simply like the idea of raising your sword against the nearest smartphone, then this story is for you.
It all started with a project which required me to write software for the Android OS (a popular mobile phone operating system). After a few thousand lines of code have been written, I learned that I could freely manipulate the device without touching it with a little help of a magnet strapped to my wrist. It was tedious at first, because I needed to take a ridiculous number of measurements and individually implement them into the code in order to create specific gestures for specific tasks/commands. The program later evolved into learning my moves, and it was good, but then something unexpected happened.
About nine years ago I acquired a 40-inch Japanese sword which all this time was relaxing in the corner without attracting much attention. All I know about it is that it’s carbon steel and that it was forged in a town in China known for exporting a ton of swords.
There seems to be nothing special about the sword, other than the fact that it has a highly logical persistent magnetic field (which I accidentally discovered while fooling around with measuring magnetic fields of various objects with the app in question), with apparent magnitude rivaling that of an inch-thick and inch-long Neodymium magnet! To put this into perspective, the intrinsic magnetic field of the planet Earth affecting you right now is about 100 nT (nano Tesla), and the field of the sword a foot away is 100 uT (micro Tesla), which is a whopping three orders of magnitude stronger. In fact, the field is so strong, that not only could I use it to control the app from several feet away, but to also crash it after bringing the sword within half a foot (probably due to a software issue known as overflow). My mind was blown to bits.
So I scraped off the walls what was left of my mind, and using that same app I mapped out the field around the Katina. It so happens that the magnetic “N” and “S” are located on the tip and the butt of the sword. I presume the sword smith used induction heating method instead of a coal oven, due to the cost and commercial space restrictions. The byproduct of using the induction coil is the insane magnetic field burned into the sword. It was suspicious but useful.
DANGER: Kids are strictly prohibited in any vicinity of your attempted experimental actions of similar nature. It’s rated R due to the use of objects which often carry several Joules of kinetic energy which can potentially release onto a very small area (obviously causing tremendous damage), thus introducing the possibility of destruction of property, injury, and/or death during normal operation. This is why my sword has the cover on it at all times during experimentation.
Please feel free to ask any questions you might have. And if you do attempt to try this out for yourself, then please don’t poke your eyes out.
Cheers!
My story is not exactly about swords or weapons, and it was never really intended to be, so be patient and you’ll see why I am here. If you like the topic of software development, or even if you simply like the idea of raising your sword against the nearest smartphone, then this story is for you.
It all started with a project which required me to write software for the Android OS (a popular mobile phone operating system). After a few thousand lines of code have been written, I learned that I could freely manipulate the device without touching it with a little help of a magnet strapped to my wrist. It was tedious at first, because I needed to take a ridiculous number of measurements and individually implement them into the code in order to create specific gestures for specific tasks/commands. The program later evolved into learning my moves, and it was good, but then something unexpected happened.
About nine years ago I acquired a 40-inch Japanese sword which all this time was relaxing in the corner without attracting much attention. All I know about it is that it’s carbon steel and that it was forged in a town in China known for exporting a ton of swords.
There seems to be nothing special about the sword, other than the fact that it has a highly logical persistent magnetic field (which I accidentally discovered while fooling around with measuring magnetic fields of various objects with the app in question), with apparent magnitude rivaling that of an inch-thick and inch-long Neodymium magnet! To put this into perspective, the intrinsic magnetic field of the planet Earth affecting you right now is about 100 nT (nano Tesla), and the field of the sword a foot away is 100 uT (micro Tesla), which is a whopping three orders of magnitude stronger. In fact, the field is so strong, that not only could I use it to control the app from several feet away, but to also crash it after bringing the sword within half a foot (probably due to a software issue known as overflow). My mind was blown to bits.
So I scraped off the walls what was left of my mind, and using that same app I mapped out the field around the Katina. It so happens that the magnetic “N” and “S” are located on the tip and the butt of the sword. I presume the sword smith used induction heating method instead of a coal oven, due to the cost and commercial space restrictions. The byproduct of using the induction coil is the insane magnetic field burned into the sword. It was suspicious but useful.
DANGER: Kids are strictly prohibited in any vicinity of your attempted experimental actions of similar nature. It’s rated R due to the use of objects which often carry several Joules of kinetic energy which can potentially release onto a very small area (obviously causing tremendous damage), thus introducing the possibility of destruction of property, injury, and/or death during normal operation. This is why my sword has the cover on it at all times during experimentation.
Please feel free to ask any questions you might have. And if you do attempt to try this out for yourself, then please don’t poke your eyes out.
Cheers!