New York, NY – In a former life, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was an electrical engineering student. It turns out he still remembers the basics.
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In a radio appearance Friday, the 69-year-old mayor responded to a citizen question by tossing off a technical explanation of how magnets work, with information on electron pairs and magnetic fields.
“Everything is made of atoms,” Hizzoner said, striking a scholarly tone. “Atoms have electrons, usually in pairs orbiting around them, and they create mini-magnetic fields.”
“But the two electrons spin in orbit \[and\] the pairs spin in opposite directions, so they cancel out each other,” he continued. “But magnetic materials aren’t in pairs, so the spins don’t cancel out each other, and if there’s enough of them, you create magnetic fields.”
It was the first time the mayor has collected questions from the public for the weekly show via Twitter as well as by phone.
The topics ranged from the absurd to the serious and angry. One person asked for the mayor’s take on adult Harry Potter readers. Another wanted to press him on affordable housing. Another challenged the billionaire to live on a teacher’s salary.
The magnet question apparently referenced a song by the hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse.
So Mayor Bloomberg is smarter and better informed than Insane Clown Posse. That’s good to know. It’s also setting the bar awfully low. I’ve dragged things out of the bottom of the ocean that were smarter and better in formed than Insane Clown Posse.
So our Mayor really is a very clever person but…..
Good for him. I studied physics in University and it left me in awe of how amazing our world (and universe) really is. (and often overwealmed by the math)