Eli5: What happens when you hold a magnet up to an old crt TV?
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The front panel of a CRT TV is coated with stuff that glows for a bit when hit by electrons. At the back of the TV there’s a hot filament that sends out electrons, and a high voltage that flings them toward the screen.
As charged particles with low mass, electrons can easily be moved by magnetic fields. And electromagnets are magnets that can be precisely controlled. So the electrons can be very precisely aimed at different spots on the screen by electromagnets. The electron beam is [only pointing at one pixel at a time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BJU2drrtCM), but there’s a circuit that sweeps the aim across the screen to create rows of pixels.
An outside magnet disrupts the aiming of the electrons and distorts the picture.
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