Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Wondering if anyone can help with a nephew's science project:

Ads for Krazy Klean -- a toilet cleaner that uses "hydro-mineral magnet" technology (?) -- are now constantly in our feeds. Of course, who wouldn’t want a product that does what it claims... but user reviews are either very positive or extremely negative, and the entire thing looks and feels like a giant scam.

Their website krazyklean.com has a very thin a "how it works” section…
https://krazyklean.com/pages/how-it-works

...but also a link to a very science-y looking white paper.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0619/ ... 1663852871

Can a science expert read any of the above and determine if there's any chance it's legitimate? It would be a pretty expensive and time-consuming test to find out it's just a piece of plastic that does nothing?

Thanks!
- FM

Hi,

I'm glad this set off your scam radar. I am 100% sure "hydro-mineral magnet" is a made-up phrase. As far as I can tell this device is just a magnet in a plastic case. I didn't read through them all, but the Wikipedia article on magnetic water treatment has some additional debunking references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_water_treatment

That being said, your nephew might want to discuss with his teacher first, but I don't think there's anything wrong with a science project that sets out to debunk junk/pseudoscientific claims. You could do the experiment more cheaply just buying some neodymium magnets online and not paying whatever markup these companies are charging.

More generally, be skeptical of ANY suspicious scientific claims about magnets that you see online. This extends to other areas like health benefits of wearing magnets or somehow getting free energy from magnetic devices etc. Magnets are a very popular focal point for these scam products.

Hope that helps! Write back if you have more questions.

Ben