18 November 2023 Saturday
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1994.11.18
182.
In the dictionary there is a listing under spontaneous magnetization which is the magnetization within each magnetic domain of a ferro-magnetic substance in the absence of a magnetizing field. This whole concept makes me wonder if the heart works because of spontaneous magnetism? Looking up ferromagnetic in the dictionary I found:
1. of or relating to a class of substances characterized by abnormally high magnetic permeability, definite saturation point and appreciable residual magnetism and hysteresis
2. a ferromagnetic substance (as iron, nickel, cobalt, and numerous alloys)
At first I found no connection to the heart but just above ferromagnetic in the dictionary is a listing for ferromagnesium.
Ferromagnesium means contains iron and magnesium. This is starting to sound like blood and it is starting to look like the heart might just be operation because of spontaneous magnetization. Further to my surprise, just above ferromagnesium in the dictionary is a listing for ferrohemoglobin which tells me to just look hemoglobin.
The definition of hemoglobin is an iron containing protein pigment occurring in the red blood cells of vertebrates and functioning primarily in the transport of oxygen from the lungs to the tissues of the body. I, of course, am thrilled here by the hemoglobin connection to the lungs and can now further imagine a magnetic thing going on between the heart and the lungs. The dictionary tells me to compare hemoglobin with carbonylhemoglobin and methemoglobin.
Methemoglobin is found in normal blood in much smaller amounts than hemoglobin, that is formed from blood, hemoglobin or oxyhemoglobin by oxidation and that differs from hemoglobin in containing ferric iron instead of ferrous iron and in being unable to combine reversely with molecular oxygen.
Carbonylhemoglobin is a very stable combination of hemoglobin and carbon monoxide in the blood when carbon dioxide is inhaled with resulting loss of ability of the blood to combine with oxygen.
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