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Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

riedel.wtf

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Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#41

Post by potatoman22 »

kajecounterhack wrote: post #18
magoon wrote: post #16

I’m surprised to hear that bluetooth, GPS, and cellular don’t work in water. I wonder what’s the science behind this.

Radio is part of the EM spectrum. EM waves (including light) decay under water at an exponential rate due to absorption by the medium. So data transmission underwater must rely instead on mechanical waves (sound). This is why underwater robots mostly use tethers, otherwise you couldn't control them very well (RC control would stop working at a very shallow depth). Note: why are folks downvoting an honest question?

Don't EM waves decay at an exponential rate in all mediums?

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#42

Post by teddyh »

mgerullis wrote: post #36
Freestyler_3 wrote: post #28

How much volume of air must be inside a standard phone these days to make it buoyant?

There’s this anecdote of Steve Jobs saw a prototype for an iPod and dropped it in a water tank in order to proof his engineers that they could make it smaller, because it had bubbles of air coming out. https://tekdeeps.com/steve-jobs-threw-an-ipod-into-a-fish-ta...

That’s an old urban legend which has been told about many people and companies.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#43

Post by moepstar »

magoon wrote: post #16

I’m surprised to hear that bluetooth, GPS, and cellular don’t work in water. I wonder what’s the science behind this.

Signal also drops out pretty fast - once you go past a few cm (lets say 3-5cm, about 2") signal is out...

I once tested that with a waterproof phone in clear water, can't recall which phone it was tho...

Don't feel brave enough to try it with my iPhone 8, even tho it supposedly is waterproof as well - my SO once tested it with a spilled drink...

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#44

Post by fnoof »

Freestyler_3 wrote: post #28

How much volume of air must be inside a standard phone these days to make it buoyant?

An iPhone 12 weighs 164g [1], so, through the magic of the metric system, it needs to displace a minimum of 164ml of water to float.

The iPhone has an external volume of 14.67cm * 7.15cm * 0.74cm = 77.62cm^3 = 77.62ml. So it would need to be about 2x the volume to float.

[1] https://www.apple.com/iphone-12/specs/

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#45

Post by lostlogin »

Cerium wrote: post #40
pvaldes wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe is the combination of rust iron, salmonella, chilling cold water and skin cuts. Aren't such big magnets an hazard for anything digital near them? Everything has a computer inside now, starting by cars.

Large permanent magnets are a fairly minor hazard to most electronics.

A phone or iPad will take 3T and work ok afterwards. I’ve seen engineers photograph the cold head on an MR scanner and the phone has held up just fine.

Sometimes they turn off for a bit and need a little rest.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#46

Post by [deleted] »

yosito wrote: post #2

I've gotta give them props for the persistence. I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone. It's impressive that the iPhone survived the whole ordeal, without even turning off. And the amount of stuff they found makes me wonder why people don't use magnets on strings to search for lost things in European canals more often. Could be an interesting hobby.

[deleted]

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#48

Post by 1123581321 »

capableweb wrote: post #13
yosito wrote: post #2

I've gotta give them props for the persistence. I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone. It's impressive that the iPhone survived the whole ordeal, without even turning off. And the amount of stuff they found makes me wonder why people don't use magnets on strings to search for lost things in European canals more often. Could be an interesting hobby.

> I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone If people didn't already realize that most of people hanging around on HN have the top 10% of the world's wealth, this made things clearer than ever (the phone in question costs around 1000 EUR) Makes all the conversations around finance here make so much more sense.

I wouldn't expect many in the 90% to buy an expensive iPhone in the first place. It's a narrow range that would buy one but not a replacement.

Regardless, kudos to them for persevering. As another user said, many people would assume the device to be inoperable, even if findable, so not try.

Re: Using a magnetic string to fish for a lost iPhone 12 in a Berlin canal

#50

Post by kirubakaran »

capableweb wrote: post #13
yosito wrote: post #2

I've gotta give them props for the persistence. I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone. It's impressive that the iPhone survived the whole ordeal, without even turning off. And the amount of stuff they found makes me wonder why people don't use magnets on strings to search for lost things in European canals more often. Could be an interesting hobby.

> I would have just given up and bought a new iPhone If people didn't already realize that most of people hanging around on HN have the top 10% of the world's wealth, this made things clearer than ever (the phone in question costs around 1000 EUR) Makes all the conversations around finance here make so much more sense.

To be fair, HN is also confused why you wouldn't just eat cake.
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