How a Magnet Can Break an Old Computer Monitor

SciShow (previously) host Michael Aranda explains how simply sticking a magnet on an old computer monitor can cause it to break due to the monitor’s cathode ray tube (CRT) technology.

“It’s true that old CRT monitors can get messed up by a magnet pretty easily. That’s because they work by firing beams of electrons extremely precisely at millions of tiny phosphorescent dots on a glass screen[…]We managed to do it by controlling those electron beams with magnets.”