Intuitive physics

[snousle]

Here's a thought experiment that touches on a lot of different intuitions and assumptions. I'm curious to see how people answer:

You have two hockey-puck shaped permanent magnets, and you place one on each side of a thin sheet of plastic such that their mutual attraction clamps them strongly together. All surfaces are smooth and nearly frictionless (oil them if you like). If you hold the sheet stationary while rotating one of the magnets, does the other one rotate as well? Why or why not?

Comments

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

It would totally depend on the axis of the poles- and I can imagine two different configurations which would give different results.

If the poles were on the flat faces of the disk magnets they would effectively be very short cylindrical bar magnets connected in series, in which case no, one shouldnt impart the rotation to the other.

If however one half of the circumference was North and the other South, then they would behave like round-ended short bar magnets stuck in parallel, in which case they should be able to transmit a torque due to the two points of attraction.

[bikerbearmark.livejournal.com]

Agreed also with the lovely-smelling Grant!