Although this is a somewhat light-hearted question, I really would like an actual answer (if one is even possible).
Here's the issue: I was recently confronted by a "true believer". Not, as you might expect based on my previous postings on this forum, a Christian "True Believer™", but rather a true believer in the efficacy of magnets. In particular, the efficacy of magnets in your shoes to keep your feet from becoming tired. I kid you not. And yes, I know that the basic "kitchen magnet" - soft iron lightly magnetized - that would be found in a shoe could have no conceivable effect on anything. I pointed out that even an electro-magnet would have to be practically inconceivably powerful to affect the iron atoms in a hemoglobin molecule.
Her response? "Well, how powerful would it have to be?"
My response? "Err, I'll have to get back to you." IOW, I have no clue.
So my question: hypothetically speaking, how powerful
would an electro-magnet have to be to affect the iron in the hemobglobin molecule of an average human standing next to it (basically touching)? Does the question even make sense?