Magnetizing a wire for use in a compass by rubbing through hair

From BearWiki

Disproven: Rubbing a wire through your hair won't magnetize it and let you use it as a compass.

While it may seem implausible, you can actually create a compass by rubbing wire through your hair, despite the fact that your hair is not magnetic and the normal magnetizing procedure involves rubbing metal against a magnet.

For a test rig, take a tub of water, three leaves, and three strips of steel wire. Place one in a leaf without any modification, rub one with a magnet, and rub one repeatedly through the hair (all rubbing being in the same direction). No matter how many times you repeat the experiment, no matter what leaves or positions in the tub you use, the magnet-rubbed wire and hair-rubbed wire slowly align north/south, while the unmodified one ends up at a random angle. ^{(Reference: Rei 15:42, 25 July 2007 (CDT) / Tested wire magnetization)}

[edit] Analysis

Neutral: Why is this listed on the main page as "Generally regarded as false," when you state on this page that it actually works?

Neutral: The claim that it doesn't work is false. I suppose the template could stand to be clearer. -- Rei 16:19, 19 September 2007 (CDT)

Oppose: While I don’t doubt the sincerity of this experiment, I don’t believe the validity of the results or the conclusion. Although many "survival" guides describe this method of making an improvised compass, it is a myth. You simply can’t magnetize iron by rubbing it with silk, hair, or fur. Here is a link to a more detailed and compressive experiment at Wildwoods Survival that contradicts the claim that you can. The entire myth originated by confusing static electric charges and magnetic fields. Below are excerpts from the article:

"A bit of physics now. "Static" electric fields and magnetic fields are two different things and do not interact. So, we can't pick up charged pieces of paper with a magnet, and we can't use an electrostatically charged object to attract to a magnetic field - which includes the earth's magnetic field."

"I bought eight different types of pins and needles from a variety of stores. I wanted to get a reasonable cross-section of pins and needles. The first experiment showed very interesting results. Out of 8 types of pins and needles, only one brand proved to be totally non-magnetic. Of all of the samples tested, 17 of 24 (75%) showed a level of magnetism that allowed me to easily determine the N-S axis. What this means is that any pins or needles that you have are probably already magnetic."

"Experiment number two was to rub the samples with fur/hair. I used a deer tail, rabbit fur, and my own hair. In all cases, none of the samples were affected."

"After demagnetizing all of the samples, I verified first that they were indeed non-magnetic by floating them and checking that there was no bias to point in any particular direction. This proven, I then rubbed them with silk, fur and hair, and you can probably guess by now what the results were: None of the demagnetized samples, either before, or after being rubbed by silk/fur/hair showed any ability to act as a compass."