RSSDiamagnetic levitation
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jun 5, 2006 10:35 PM
Science |
Permalink
| Comments (8)
| Email This |
| Digg this!
Recent Entries
- Science through graphic novels
- Tiny solar-powered brass engine in a wineglass
- Maker Shed kiosks at Fry's
- New hackerspace in Chicagoland: Workshop 88
- Mint tin electronics dev kit packs the essentials
- Olympus BioScapes competition winners
- Mac mailbox
- LHC tweets its first circulating beam of 2009
- Building a shop presence notification system
- Vacuum tube prototyping board
Comments
Oldest comments listed first.
Leave a comment
Subscribe to MAKE Magazine!
Subscribe today, save 42% and get web access to MAKE free. MAKE Digital Edition is available only to subscribers.
$34.95 / 1 year
(4 Quarterly Issues)
Scitoys will sell you a kit with magnets and everything.
Digi -Key has some too, sold as heat sink interface material.
Reply to this comment
Use a razor knife to split some thin sheets off the thicker block sold by Scitoys.
Also, no need to use large 1cm cube magnets. Instead cover a steel sheet with small disks, oriented in a NS checkerboard array, and the carbon will still float. Use a 2" wide magnet array with a 1/4" carbon sheet, and you've got a start on a maglev train demo.
Reply to this comment
You can also use bismuth metal to allow diamagnetic levitation of a small magnet. Bismuth is cheap, easy to get, non-toxic and has a low melting point. You can cast it with a gas stove or propane torch. Bismuth is commonly sold as lead-free shot or fishing weights at "sporting goods" stores. Small quantities are usually available on eBay for about $5.
Here are some examples of levitation with bismuth.
Reply to this comment
you can get One Piece of Pyrolytic Graphite for $3.50 @
http://www.scitoyscatalog.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SC&Category_Code=M
Reply to this comment
will a tin-bismuth alloy work? or must be a pure bismuth?
Reply to this comment
I haven't tried tin-bismuth alloy-- Let us know if you do. It takes a steady hand with the pure stuff (or with graphite), and it won't get easier if there's less of it. On the other hand, it's easy to get tin-bismuth alloy from places like McMaster-Carr.
Reply to this comment
There is a neat kit for 22 dollars (usd)I like it
http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=LEV
Reply to this comment
this is also a source.
http://www.dreamtime24.de/product_info.php/info/p4_Pyrolytisches-Graphit.html
Reply to this comment