Man carries out extremely rare test to reveal risks of magnetic items near MRI scanner
For those who've had to go inside an MRI scanner, you'll know how claustrophobic those little tubes can be.
Still, as they're able to make 3D images of our soft tissues, organs, and bones to diagnose diseases and monitor conditions, they're a pretty important bit of kit.
Some people will use MRI scanners for all sorts of unusual science experiments, but away from the couple that had sex inside an MRI scanner, the woman who gave birth inside one, and people pooping inside these machines, one YouTuber has taken it upon himself to undertake some especially dangerous tests we wouldn't advise the rest of you try on your next visit to the hospital.
MRI scanners are effectively one big magnet, meaning they pull, twist, and even heat up metal objects. Keys, jewelry, and even oxygen tanks can be pulled into an MRI scanner. If you haven't seen 2025's Final Destination Bloodlines, there's a pretty gnarly scene involving an MRI scanner.
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While that's obviously a piece of exaggerated fiction, practiCal fMRI has shown what actually happens when you put metal objects in the intense magnetic field of an MRI scanner.
First, tossing a steel shackle toward the machine, it's no match for the four-tesla machine. Hospital MRI scanners typically range between 1.5T and 3T, although 4T machines are used in specialized research and are the strength of the superconducting magnet built around CERN's CMS detector.
To put this into context, a 4T machine is around 80,000 to 100,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field.
Returning to practiCal fMRI's video, placing an office chair near the machine recorded a pull of 700 lbs that then jumped to 2,000 lbs before being mangled.
The MRI made light work of the office chair, so we dread to think what it would do to the human body if there was any metal inside it – watch out, Wolverine.
As the video reminds us, 2,000lbs is the same as a small car, and is why there aren't any metal wheels on office chairs placed near a scanner.
Responding to the video on Reddit, one person said: "I used to work for a hospital and had to do safety training every year about the MRI. I've seen pictures of what really can happen it's not f**king pretty
Another added: "Thanks now I am afraid of MRIs even more."
A third said: "As an MRI technologist, can confirm. This 💩 is no joke."
Elsewhere, some pointed to the supposed horror stories of tattoos starting to 'cook' inside an MRI scanner. This apparently comes from rare cases where metal pigments have been used, which harks back to stories of prison tattoos using metal-based pigments.
For those questioning how dangerous these machines are, a 2001 case involved a six-year-old boy being killed in New York when a metal oxygen tank crushed his skull. In 2018, a 32-year-old man in India was similarly killed when he was pulled toward the machine while carrying a tank.
Maybe Final Destination Bloodlines isn't as far-fetched as we thought.