Magnetic Levitation Project

Things you will need:

• Two bar magnets: North and South Pole should be labelled.
• Two Ring Magnets
• A sketch pen
• Pencil
• Modelling Clay to hold the pencil
• Notebook

How to do it:

• Take the two bar magnets and place them on the table. You will notice that the bar magnets have north and south poles labelled on them. Bring the two similar poles near to each other, for instance, the north-north sides. Create a table and keep a record of how the poles interact with each other.
• The data table that you created will help you in concluding how the sides interact.
• By now you would have got a clear idea as to how the poles interact with each other when one brings them close. Make use of that data to find out the ring magnet’s north and south poles.
• Bring one flat side of the ring magnet nearer to the north pole of the bar magnet. Does the ring magnet attract or repel the bar? Based on how the side reacts to the labelled bar magnet mark the side.
• This process will be repeated until both sides are labelled.
• When the poles are labelled, we will be ready to create the conditions under which the levitation can take place.
• Firstly, the ring magnet needs a holder. To create that, we will take the modelling clay and stick the pencil into it vertically. Make sure the pointy end is downwards.
• Take this setup and put one of the ring magnets into the pencil. It will slip down to the base. Remember the North Pole should face up.
• Slip the second magnet into the pencil with the north pole facing the north pole of the ring magnet underneath. Voila! You will see that the second magnet starts floating.
• Remove the pencil carefully and now you have a levitating magnet.

What’s going on?

Magnets have the property that their unlike poles react and like poles repel. The alignment of two magnets depends on whether they attract or repel. This project makes us discover how the two magnets create a repelling force between them. Later, we used that same information to create our own magnetic levitation device.

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