[NightHawkInLight] has been playing around with the diamagnetic properties of bismuth. Diamagnetic materials get a lot of attention due to their strange ability to produce the opposite of the magnetic field going through them. In simpler terms, metals like iron are attracted to magnets; metals like bismuth repel them.

[NightHawkInLight] built his own interpretation of a common lab example used to demonstrate this remarkable property, a levitator. A levitator is made by sandwiching a magnet between two plates of diamagnetic material. One of the plates is given a magnetic field opposite of the magnet underneath it by a stronger magnet placed some distance away. When this is done, the magnet in between wants to repel away from the plate above, only to find that as it gets closer to the plate below it is equally repelled, creating a stable system.

Eventually the magnet above will need realignment, but [NightHawkInLight] assures us this is only once every 100 years. Video after the break. Continue reading “Bismuth Crystals Hold Magnet Suspended For 100 Years” →