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Hazards Of Samarium Cobalt Magnets


Magnets are incredibly useful and fun, but they aren’t without their hazards. Please read the below before handling magnets and remember, safety first!


Samarium cobalt magnets are strong. Place two magnets close to each other, even small ones, and they will slam together. This is the most common cause of broken magnets and it is possible that one or both magnets could chip or shatter.

Do to the force exerted by the magnets it is possible that chips may fly off at high speed into someone's eye, therefore we advise that when handling more than one samarium cobalt magnet that you wear eye protection. Chips and broken magnets can also be quite sharp, so treat them as carefully as you would broken glass.


Children should be supervised at all times when handling or playing with samarium cobalt magnets and small children likely to swallow them should be kept away from them at all times.

If more than one magnet is swallowed, they can get stuck and pinch the digestive tract causing major swelling and even life-threatening injuries requiring surgery.

Larger magnets can crush fingers and break bones. Always keep Samarium Cobalt magnets out of the reach of children.




Samarium cobalt magnets are much stronger than ‘ordinary’ magnets. Keep a safe distance (at least 20cm) between the magnets and all objects that can be damaged by magnetism. Items such as mechanical watches, heart pacemakers, CRT monitors and televisions, credit cards, diskettes and other magnetically stored media such as video tapes are all susceptible to powerful magnets.


There is a general lack of understanding regarding how magnets can affect heart pacemakers.







Samarium cobalt magnets can be secured in place with adhesive or in some cases, with countersunk screws. Magnets are sintered and are therefore extremely hard and brittle. You should never attempt to cut or drill into a magnet unless using diamond tooling and coolant as the dust can be highly flammable.


Millions of people worldwide wear magnets to promote health and wellbeing. We have found no evidence at all of detrimental effects of neodymium magnets on people or animals – many people actually believe that magnets improve health and accelerate healing!

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