Possible to de-magnetize paper money?

[Monique]

Since they all have these mysterious metal strips in them, which the government uses to track your every move (it is true, I saw it on the x-files), is it possible to demagnetize them? And is that the reason that some vending machines don't take some dollar bills?

Or aren't those strips used for recognizing money?

 

[motai]

I never realized that paper money had metallic strips on them.

 

[Monique]

IN them! see, it is a government conspiracy..

 

[Adam]

The reason vending machines don't take some notes has nothing to do with the metal strips. It's beacuse vending machines are evil and wish to increase the general anxiety level among humans by upsetting us all. It's all part of their plan.

 

[motai]

Yes, the vending machines are evil. They want the snacks to themselves, as well as money. They will go to the lengths of accepting the money and refusing to give the customer the snacks.

 

[wasteofo2]

Ingenious plan the govt has. Usually a magnet can be degaussed by high temperatures, but if you expose money to the temperatures nessecary to degauss a magnet you destroy it, which is a federal crime. The govt probabally will be able to track if a metal sensor in a bill is destroyed, and they will immediately go to your house and arrest you for your federal offence.

 

[photon]

Do they have the strips in American money?[?]

I wasn't aware this was going on. And we know that it is going on because the x-files is such a reliable source of information.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Oh, right, like the government has nothing better to do than count your bankroll by remote control. Conceivably it would be useful to know if some international drug smuggler were trying to sneak a suitcase full of twenties on the next flight to Little Rock, but the "magnetic strips"--actually they're nonmagnetic polyester filaments--won't help Big Brother do that either. The filament, which is embedded in the bill to the left of the Federal Reserve seal and says USA TWENTY, is strictly an anticounterfeiting move. High quality color photocopiers have made counterfeiting easy and the number of fakes out there has been rising fast. Since it's embedded in the bill, the polyester filament won't be picked up by the copier and the lettering won't be visible when you hold the fake bill up to the light.

A more subtle anticounterfeiting measure, also introduced in 1990, is "microprinting," which consists of the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA printed repeatedly in 0.001-point type around the portrait of the bill. The type is unreadable by the naked eye and can't be picked up by copiers, but high-speed counting equipment at the Federal Reserve will yank out any microprintingless bills it detects.

There's also magnetic printing on U.S. currency--always has been, in fact. But it can't be detected from afar and even detecting it close up requires a more expensive bill validating device than the average vending machine manufacturer wants to invest in. Most bill-accepting machines strictly check optical characteristics and so can be fooled by a good copy.

Note that the authors source is questionable.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_030.html

 

[one_raven]

You can take one out yourself and look at it.
I have.
It isn't metal.
It is a poly strip.
Find it on the end of the bill.
At the edge of the bill (where the strip meets the end) bite down a little bit (you may have to work at it a bit, maybe from both sides depending on how worn the bill is and such) and just pull the bill away from your teeth.
The poly strip will be hanging from your teeth, and the bill will have a very thin hollow channel through it.

 

[Monique]

Originally posted by one_raven
At the edge of the bill (where the strip meets the end) bite down a little bit (you may have to work at it a bit, maybe from both sides depending on how worn the bill is and such) and just pull the bill away from your teeth.
The poly strip will be hanging from your teeth, and the bill will have a very thin hollow channel through it.

You chewed away on a bill? You know how many bacteria are on there?