Diamagnetic levitation on a jar lid

Diamagnetic_Levitation2.jpg
From the MAKE Flickr pool

Member Cmorris posted these images of an elegantly simple levitation setup -

Folded business card behind magnets provides nice contrast. The pyrolytic graphite square floats about 2mm above the magnets, you can easily slide a business card all the way underneath without disturbing it.
- Link


For those interested in learning more -
To put it simply, diamagnetism is a substance's tendency to become magnetized in the opposite direction of an externally applied magnetic field. Demonstrations of this action in organic materials can be visually stunning:
levitating_frog2.jpg
The frog that learned to fly - Link
Why does the frog fly? - Link

Related:

Diamagnetic levitation - Link

From the Maker store:

Magnetic sculpture kit - Link


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Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: PattiS on March 3, 2008 at 12:59 PM

Someone needs to do this with a pig.


Posted by: Simon on March 4, 2008 at 3:28 PM

I remember when I was in school back in 1990 I think it was making my own ceramic superconductors (the 123 YBa2Cu3O7 type in liquid nitrogen) and levitating a small magnet over them. Using a small tube you could blow air over a levitating disc shaped magnet and get it spinning at incredible speeds.


Posted by: fhayashi on March 9, 2008 at 6:28 PM

forget the pig, do it on a person.

Actually, even the relatively simple levitation with an electromagnet and a photo-sensor should be done with a person (wearing an iron vest of some sort)


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