imported>Sammi Brie: Adding short description: "Fluid that shows information encoded on magnetic tape"

2025-01-17T05:33:45Z

Adding short description: "Fluid that shows information encoded on magnetic tape"

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{{Short description|Fluid that shows information encoded on magnetic tape}}
{{refimprove|date=June 2023}}
[[Image:MagDev Apply.jpg|thumb|right|Applying Magnetic Developer to a magnetic stripe]]
[[Image:MagDev EncodingDamaged.jpg|thumb|right|An example of damaged magnetic encoding. A magnet was run across this stripe. The encoding has been made visible by applying a Magnetic Developer solution]]

'''Magnetic developer''' is a [[fluid]] which makes the [[magnetism|magnetic]] information written on [[magnetic tape]] or the [[magnetic stripe]] of a [[credit card]] or [[ATM card]] visible to the naked eye.

Magnetic developer can be found in liquid or aerosol form. When applied to a magnetic stripe, suspended metal particles will be attracted to the magnetically charged regions of the stripe as the liquid evaporates. The particles can be made of [[carbonyl iron]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daniel |first=Eric D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7WrCSCqMk5gC&dq=quadruplex+tape+particles&pg=PA162 |title=Magnetic Recording: The First 100 Years |last2=Mee |first2=C. Denis |last3=Clark |first3=Mark H. |date=1998-08-31 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-7803-4709-0 |language=en}}</ref>

Magnetic developer can be used to troubleshoot problems with magnetic stripes and the equipment that encodes and reads them. By making the encoding visible, one can see how encoding head alignment affects the position of the data tracks, and observe any possible magnetic damage that has occurred on the magnetic stripe.

== See also ==
*[[Magnasee]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Magnetic devices]]

{{tech-stub}}

Magnetic developer - Revision history

imported>Sammi Brie: Adding short description: "Fluid that shows information encoded on magnetic tape"