A Diamagnetic Levitator made from Wood
Click for large images.
These are photos of my first successful static magnetic levitation.
Above and below the small Radio Shack rare earth magnet are pieces of Bismuth formed from
melted non-lead shot. This design and the use of shot were suggested by Simon Quellen
Field's great web
site.
There is some additional early discussion of this topic by
William Beaty and Ed Philips and
others, with some photos of Ed's device here.
This is my second design, which enclosed the magnet within a 17mm high
piece of plastic tubing. The tubing is cut from a 15 mm inside diameter plastic
container that was sold containing glitter.
Click for larger image.
In this system, carbon motor commutator brush material is used
above and below the small Radio Shack magnet.
Click for larger image.
I made two disks of the material on a lathe. This material is
very black and a bit powdery and in a quick test works better than the Bismuth shot.
I've also tried some graphite kindly provided by Glenn Ballard. It is harder, dark
gray, and has a visible crystalline structure. This was not nearly as diamagnetic as
the carbon electrode.
On September 25, 1999, Meredith and Lee Ann Lamb and
Denny Ambrisco
visited to check out some of the carbon electrodes that Meredith had recently purchased.
January 15, 2000
Today I made a different version of the levitator, using just one carbon
planchet below the tiny Radio Shack rare-earth floating magnet. I
purchased 1-inch diameter planchets from Ted
Pella, Inc. at a cost of $8 for 10. I think this makes a neat
demo! I was able to float the magnet a bit higher than indicated in the
photograph, but at that height the camera would cause the magnet to take off and
join the upper ring magnet, so a photograph was impossible!
Pushing up two magnets linked with a small piece of paper, a
la Meredith Lamb:
Levitating a 2mm x 2mm x 2mm cubic magnet with a donut magnet above and a
graphite planchet below.
Back
Click for larger image.
