this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
362 points (96.6% liked)

Showerthoughts

29593 readers
1816 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics (NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out)
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
vatlark@lemmy.world
forkball@lemmy.world
quinten@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
362
Magnetism only feels like magic, because we don't have biological sensors for it (feddit.de)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by swnt@feddit.de to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
71 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Think about it. Isn't light+eyes and ears+sound just the same in terms of their "influence at a distance"? We don't feel that as abnormal or magic - simply because we've sensors for them and are used to it. But physically speaking light and magnetism are based on electromagnetic forces.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] swnt@feddit.de 14 points 1 year ago

The example with gravity is interesting indeed. We have only acceleration sensors behind our ears, but our body notices the pressure of the body tissue pressing down towards the gravity. And obviously, we also feel gravity when moving.

However, the difference to magnetism is, that we frankly don't have any contact with magnets during our evolution - except for the earth's magnetic field.

Even if we are able to sense it, it's definitely far from being able to reliably feel it like we do for gravity.