How would one go about using the diamagnetic properties of bismuth to make it hover? I'm doing a demo for a class with a superconductor, so I figured
I should try showing that off to.Detonationology - 9-5-2015 at 17:41
Cryogenic liquids are typically used to distort the electron configurations of paramagnetic metals, if I remember correctly.DalisAndy - 9-5-2015 at 17:52
It would probably be easier to levitate a permanent magnet over bismuth than to do the inverse.
Oh ok, thank you my friendMrHomeScientist - 15-5-2015 at 06:19
I've built one of these demos before (back in high school), and it's very simple and fun. I bought chunks of bismuth off of eBay and melted the metal
down and cast it into plates myself. I then took these plates and used pennies as spacers (so you can easily adjust the gap between plates) and put a
tiny Nd magnet in between them. You also need a larger 'helper' lifting magnet above this configuration to get some levitation, since the effect from
the bismuth alone is so small. I used a wooden scaffold I built and a threaded rod that I could use to dial in the height of the lifting magnet.
