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Defying Gravity: Scientists Resolve Thriller of Magnetic Hovering Past Classical Physics

In 2021, Turkish scientist Hamdi Ucar found a novel type of magnetic levitation, the place a quickly rotating magnet prompted a close-by magnet to levitate. This phenomenon, which defied classical physics, was replicated and studied by Professor Rasmus Bjørk and his workforce. They discovered that the levitating magnet aligns with the spinning magnet, creating an equilibrium akin to a spinning prime. Credit score: SciTechDaily.com

Scientists from the Technical College of Denmark (DTU) have confirmed the underlying physics of a newly found phenomenon of magnet levitation.

In 2021, a scientist from Turkey revealed a analysis paper detailing an experiment the place a magnet was connected to a motor, inflicting it to rotate quickly. When this setup was introduced close to a second magnet, the second magnet started to rotate and instantly hovered in a set place a number of centimeters away.

Whereas magnetic levitation is nothing new – the best-known instance might be Maglev trains that depend on a powerful magnetic pressure for carry and propulsion – the experiment puzzled physicists as this phenomenon was not described by classical physics, or, a minimum of, by any of identified mechanism of magnetic levitation.

Magnetic levitation demonstrated utilizing a Dremel software spinning a magnet at 266 Hz. The rotor magnet is 7x7x7 mm3 and the floater magnet is 6x6x6 mm3. This video reveals the physics described within the analysis. Credit score: DTU.

It’s now, nevertheless. Rasmus Bjørk, a professor at DTU Vitality, was intrigued by Ucar’s experiment and got down to replicate it with MSc pupil Joachim M. Hermansen whereas determining precisely what was happening. The replicating was straightforward and could possibly be performed through the use of off-the-shelf elements, however the physics of it was unusual, says Rasmus Bjørk:

“Magnets mustn’t hover when they’re shut collectively. Normally, they may both appeal to or repel one another. However for those who spin one of many magnets, it seems, you’ll be able to obtain this hovering. And that’s the unusual half. The pressure affecting the magnets mustn’t change simply since you rotate one among them, so it appears there’s a coupling between the motion and the magnetic pressure,” he says.

The outcomes have lately been revealed within the journal Physics Overview Utilized.

A number of experiments to verify the physics

The experiments concerned a number of magnets of differing sizes, however the precept remained the identical: By rotating a magnet very quick the researchers noticed how one other magnet in shut proximity, dubbed a “floater magnets,” began spinning on the similar pace whereas it shortly locked right into a place the place it stayed hovering.

They discovered that because the floater magnet locked into place, it was oriented near the axis of rotation and in the direction of the like pole of the rotor magnet. So, for example, the north pole of the floater magnet, whereas it was spinning, stayed pointing in the direction of the north pole of the mounted magnet.

That is totally different from what was anticipated primarily based on the legal guidelines of magnetostatics, which clarify how a static magnetic system features. Because it seems, nevertheless, the magnetostatic interactions between the rotating magnets are precisely what’s answerable for creating the equilibrium place of the floater, as co-author PhD-student Frederik L. Durhuus discovered utilizing simulations of the phenomenon. They noticed a major influence of magnet measurement on levitation dynamics: smaller magnets required larger rotation speeds for levitation attributable to their bigger inertia and the upper it could float.

“It seems that the floater magnet desires to align itself with the spinning magnet, but it surely can’t spin quick sufficient to take action. And for so long as this coupling is maintained it can hover or levitate,” says Rasmus Bjørk, and continues:

“You may evaluate it to a spinning prime. It won’t stand except it’s spinning however is locked into place by its rotation. It is just when the rotation loses power that the pressure of gravity – or in our case the push and pull of the magnets – turns into massive sufficient to beat the equilibrium.”

Reference: “Magnetic levitation by rotation” by Joachim Marco Hermansen, Frederik Laust Durhuus, Cathrine Frandsen, Marco Beleggia, Christian R.H. Bahl and Rasmus Bjørk, 13 October 2023, Bodily Overview Utilized.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.044036



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