General Discussion

I consulted ChatGPT (yeah, I know) and asked it to calculate the force a 2 Tesla magnet (which IIRC is in the range of an MRI magnetic field strength) on an iron mass of 1 lb. At a 3 foot distance, it calculated a force of little less than 1 lb. At a 1 foot distance, the calculated force was about 30 lbs. So, this wasn't a case of the guy walking in to the MRI room and getting sucked right in - he must have gotten very close and probably would have had ample warning of what was about to happen if he got any closer.

BTW, the analysis presented by ChatGPT was detailed and IMO very impressive. I'd copy it here but the formatting gets screwed up.

I once had an MRI and I couldn't get a small iron ring off my finger - the tech said don't worry about it and I noticed no effect on the ring at all.