Is there a device, or could there be one, that allows one to see in the visible spectrum an electromagnetic field (like night vision goggles)? I read an article recently that theorized that birds might have that ability naturally.

click-my-heels-midair wrote:Is there a device, or could there be one, that allows one to see in the visible spectrum an electromagnetic field (like night vision goggles)? I read an article recently that theorized that birds might have that ability naturally.

I would not see a band called Magnetic Fields.

((they also shoot darts))

I believe there is. I seem to recall it monitoring infrared light, though I don't know if it was looking for redshift or something. But IIRC, it's how they can take pictures of black holes.

I think whatever it is, it's probably out of anybody's price range except maybe Bill Gates or NASA or something.

if you need something more MacGyver/ghetto, you can put some really fine iron filings on a piece of paper and shake it lightly. the filings will align themselves with magnetic field lines, if the filings are small enough and the field is strong enough.

Put a magnet up to a television.

Presto!

Problem solved.

(must be careful to not leave permanent marks)

but If I had bill gates cash could I build goggles that saw magnetic field lines . I guess magnetism is a force like gravity in that you can only see it in relation to its effects on the matter around it. hypothetically could you use these goggles to look at a microphone and see the magnetic field that it is generating, and the influence on the air around the microphone?

I know it sounds like i'm really high right now but I'm not....

yeah

or suspend iron filings in liquid helium.