“Art is how we decorate space; science is how we explain it. What happens when you mash them together?”
This morning’s workbench session turned into an accidental gallery piece—and a surprisingly vivid demo of invisible magnetic fields. Below is a quick show-and-tell of what I cobbled together with ferrite ring magnets, twisted-copper coils cut to the ancient cubit (≈ 20.62″), and a sheet of olive-green magnetic viewing film. Feel free to riff on the design or post your own magnetic masterpieces in the comments!
1 | Meet the cast 🔍
| Part | Specs | “Why I grabbed it” |
|---|---|---|
| Ferrite toroid | 4″ OD • 1.3″ ID | Big, donut-shaped flux playground. |
| Two ferrite disks | 1.2″ Ø • center hole | Perfect “eyes”/pole markers. |
| Copper coils (3×) | 14-AWG solid • exactly 1 cubit long (20.62″) | Spiral makes a compact pickup; the cubit keeps geometry poetic. |
| Inner & outer rings | Same wire, but twisted triplet; inner ring = ½ cubit | Holds shape, references Tesla’s 3-6-9 numerology. |
| Mag-view film | Green-gold sheet | Makes flux patterns pop like mood-rings. |
2 | Assembly: 2-minute “Frog-Bot”
- Stack the tiny ferrite disks on the toroid—Mickey-ears style.
- Drop a copper spiral inside the toroid’s hole (that’s our “frog tongue”).
- Form two concentric twisted rings; tack them with a tiny copper twist so they float together.
- Drape the magnetic film over the disks and toroid.
- Tilt the light—watch concentric green ripples bloom around each pole. Voilà! You just made a cyber-Zen frog staring into a magnetic pond.
(Swipe through the photo gallery above—Pic #4 & #5 show the field ripples like bull’s-eyes.)
3 | What the film actually reveals
- Bright rings = flux cliffs. Those glowing circles are where field lines dive into (or erupt out of) the ferrite faces.
- Dark nulls between the “eyes.” Flip one disk upside-down and you’ll create a cancellation valley. Try sliding the copper spiral through that null—any induced voltage?
- Toroid rim fade. The outside of the donut is quieter; inner rim is the party zone. That matters if you ever wind it for a toroidal energy harvester.
4 | Spin-off experiment ideas
| Quick hack | What to look for | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| LED blip test | Wind 50 turns of fine magnet-wire on the outer ring, hook an LED, then tap the toroid with another magnet. Flash = induced EMF. | ★☆☆ |
| Resonant “ribbit.” | Sweep an audio signal (1–20 kHz) through the copper spiral; scope the toroid for peaks. You’ll map the coil’s natural frequency. | ★★☆ |
| Art-to-Go. | Epoxy the whole frog face to a wood tile, leave the film loose so guests can slide it and “see” flux. | ★☆☆ |
5 | Why the cubit & the twist?
The ancients loved whole-number harmonics; Tesla loved 3-6-9. A single cubit of 14-AWG = ~0.25 µH when coiled tight—handy for audio-range play. Twisting three wires keeps the inductance of each conductor similar, which makes for a balanced tri-filar if you ever want to pulse it.
Your turn—show us your magnet-art!
Got fridge magnets, scrap wire, or that lonely piezo buzzer lying around? Build a micro-sculpture, snap a pic, and drop it in the comments (or tag us on IG: @WooWooHunters). Bonus kudos if you record a scope trace or LED flash.
Remember:
Safety first—ferrite chips can be sharp, and neodymiums will pinch!
Happy field-surfing, fellow Woo-Woo tinkers. The universe is weirder (and prettier) than our eyeballs admit—until we give it copper spectacles. 🐸✨
