Published September 17, 2004

How many physicists does it take to find a misplaced car in the mall parking lot?

Two, which also is how many it took to misplace a car, and the reason those two decided to invent a device that helps absent-minded motorists find their cars.

While most physicists focus on solving problems of the universe, Slav and Tatiana Lancetta turned their attention to parking lots. Of course, when a pair of physicists can't remember where they parked their car, it's probably best to take a sabbatical from examining the universe anyway, don't you think?

The two have formed Lancetta Inc., in Austin, Texas, to produce and market the C-Car key chain.

Rather than batteries, electricity, antennas or global positioning satellites, this key fob relies on a Chinese invention--the magnetic compass--to find lost objects such as a 2,500-pound car by employing magnetism and taking advantage of the Earth's magnetic field.

How does it work?

"Ever use a survivalist compass?" asked company spokesman Michael Romanies.

When told it's been a while, Romanies explained that when exiting the car, you point the chain with two tiny cars floating inside a plastic case toward the mall entrance doors. When the two floating cars line up on top of each other, you have a magnetic reference point.

When exiting the mall, you then point the key fob at the parking lot until those two cars line up again, and that's the direction to start the search.

Of course, it gives only the direction, not the pinpoint location, so you may have to rely on the old method of pressing the key fob as you walk the lot to start your headlamps blinking.

Cost: $4.95. For details, visit www.mytithe.com

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