Wieman's technique cooled the atoms to about 10 millionths of a degree above absolute zero, still far too hot to produce Bose-Einstein condensation. About 10 million of these cold atoms were captured in the light trap. Once the atoms were trapped, the researchers turned off the laser and kept the atoms in place by a magnetic field. Most atoms act like tiny magnets because they contain spinning charged particles like electrons. The atoms can be trapped, or held in place, if a magnetic field is properly arranged around them.