Teaching imaging of magnetic resonance (MR) today is still as challenging as it has always been, because it requires admitting that we cannot express fundamental questions of quantum mechanics with straightforward language or without using extensive theory. Here we allow students to face a real MR setup based on the Earthʼs magnetic field. We address the applied side of teaching MR using a device that is affordable and that proves to be sufficiently robust, at universities in Orsay, France, and San Sebastian, Spain, in experimental practicals at undergraduate and graduate levels. We specifically present some of the advantages of low field for measuring R2 relaxation rates, reaching a power of separation of 1.5 μmol on Mn(II) ions between two water bottles each of half a liter. Finally we propose key approaches for the lecturers to adopt when they are asked to pass from theoretical knowledge to teachable knowhow. The outcomes are fast calibration and the MR acquisition protocols, demonstrating the reproducibility of energy transfer during the saturation pulses, and the quantitative nature of MR, with water protons and a helium-3 sample.
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