Is this Aldis selling snake oil ?

[robgraham]

ball containing a magnet and claiming to reduce limescale

[Owain]

Very probably, but at least Aldi's snake oil is 40% cheaper than John Lewis'

"entertains the cat" in the reviews suggests alternative uses.

Owain

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They must have been taking dribble's advice.

[Ian Jackson]

Need to see the 'how to use' instructions. It may be a variant it the stainless steel knitted wire wool ball you put in kettles - which works wonders by getting furred-up instead of the kettle element.

[ARWadsworth]

He bought two of them:-)

[grimly4]

Heh. I saw that, but Aldi will sell any s**te for the gullible, along with the good stuff.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I get their special offers emails, and can't say I've noticed this sort of thing before.

[Fredxx]

It's dangerous to make assumption that any item is snake oil just because we're not sure of the mechanism, assuming it works of course. Personally I'd prefer to keep an open mind and look things up rather than dismiss such a device.

For starters:

a peer reviewed paper: suspect there were many learned people who ridiculed the Earth being spherical in the not so long distant past!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

How did those who thought the earth to be flat explain ships disappearing gradually over the horizon? And that if they climbed a hill near the shore they could see enemy ships etc sooner? What possible reason could there be other than the sea being curved?

[grimly4]

I shit gold out of my ears.

[Martin]

or AMT) is a marketed, but scientifically refuted[1] pseudoscientific method of reducing the effects of hard water, as a non chemical alternative to water softening.[2][3][4] Vendors of magnetic water treatment devices have claimed that powerful magnetic fields can affect the structure of water molecules or the properties of solutes passing through the magnetic field, thus eliminating the need for chemical softening agents.[5][1] Only the effective hardness is claimed to be altered; no solutes (such as calcium or magnesium) are removed from the water by the process.[2][5] Most scientific studies[6] do not support these claims and suggest that magnetic water treatment is ineffective.[1] Certainly many, perhaps most claims for small domestic apparatus may be pseudoscientific because the magnetic field, if it works at all, would have to be very powerful, and this high flux is not easily achieved in a small space.[citation needed]

Scientific and engineering studies generally refute the effectiveness of the method, finding no differences not attributable to other causes between systems with and without a magnetic water treatment device, and no theoretical basis to expect that there might be.[1] Vendors frequently use pictures and testimonials to support their claims, but omit quantitative detail and well-controlled studies.[1] Advertisements and promotions generally omit such system variables as corrosion coupon results or system mass balance analyticals, as well as measurements of post-treatment water such as concentration of hardness ions or the distribution, structure, and morphology of suspended particles.[5][1][7][8][9] Despite generally being refuted, studies do suggest that it may be effective under some conditions to reduce buildup of calcium carbonate deposits.[2]

[Fredxx]

How do you know that in the distant past people weren't frightened of falling off the edge?

[Fredxx]

I can assure you its unlikely to be gold.

[Doctor Drivel]

Oh look! A plantpot!

[Doctor Drivel]

I did, together with the anti-elephant powder.

[Doctor Drivel]

Yes, along with diesel cars.

[Doctor Drivel]

As member of the flat earth society, where do you think these ships and diesel cars went?

[The Natural Philosopher]

it was common knowledge that the earth was round since the year dot amnongst anyone who sailed a ship - that being a large expanse of relative flatness featuring a horizon over which ships could be seen to disappear from the bottom upwards. Hence 'hull down'

The fact you could see more ship from higher up the mast further proved the point.

Either light didn't travel in straight lines or the earth was curved. In fact the two are somewhat indistinguishable IIRC ..

[dennis]

Well we know light doesn't travel in straight lines so I guess the earth is flat.

[John Williamson]

The curvature in light rays travelling near the Earth's surface varies, too. Sometime it curves up, sometimes it curves down, and sometimes it does both, depending on which way you're looking.

That doesn't make the Earth flat, and I know from experience that you don't fall off the edge when you sail too far from land.