As I contemplated what I should write about for this blog, I went through my old closet looking for anything that could relate to physics. After finding some old Barbie dolls and Beanie Babies, I found my old magnetic writing board. I remember I used to leave my family messages with this board because that's what Joey and Chandler used to do with their board on their front door of their apartment on Friends. Anyways, before I used to think that the words I was writing or the pictures I was drawing would appear magically and all the writing instruments that came with the board were the only objects that I could write with on the board. One time I lost the pen that came with the board and I was devastated because I thought I could no longer write on the board. Later I realized that I could use any magnet to write on the board because all the writing instruments were actually magnets and where ever I contacted it with the board, the iron shavings would attract to the magnet and illustrate my picture. Also I noticed that the magnets that came with the board were very weak and when I used a stronger refrigerator magnet on the board, the picture appeared darker because more dust was attracted to it. Since the boards are made out of plastic, the magnet cannot stick onto the board, even though it attracts the iron dust. Sometimes if the attraction is strong enough, the magnet doesn't even have to make contact with the board to make the iron dust appear. I can't believe I used to think this was magical, but at least now I can explain the physics behind this toy.
