{"id":5345,"date":"2015-10-07T12:18:10","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T16:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.decisionsciencenews.com\/?p=5345"},"modified":"2015-10-08T08:47:51","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T12:47:51","slug":"why-is-restaurant-cutlery-sometimes-magnetic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decisionsciencenews.com\/?p=5345","title":{"rendered":"Why is restaurant cutlery sometimes magnetic?"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE BALL BURNISHER NOT THE CUTLERY CATCHER<\/p>\n

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Two computational social science types I know were recently discussing why restaurant cutlery is sometimes magnetized. One recounted an incident in which he asked the waitstaff, and they said it was due to a cutlery catcher magnet in the dishwasher. Do a Web search and you will see that many people have the same suspicion. And while you’re on the Web, do a search on cutlery catcher magnets. They are usually mounted on commercial kitchen trash can lids.<\/p>\n

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We think this common explanation is wrong. The average piece of flatware just doesn’t come into contact with the catcher magnet with enough frequency or friction to magnetize it.<\/p>\n

Here’s our theory. <\/p>\n

Our first job was as a short-order cook at a country club. Our utensils were magnetized. We noticed we had a ball burnishing machine in the kitchen they would dump the cutlery in, like this:<\/p>\n

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