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When he drops the magnet into the tube... |
| The small neodymium
magnet is dropped down the aluminum tube, but surprise!
The heavy magnet floats liesurely down the center of the tube as long as it's inside the tube. When it gets back outside, it falls at a normal rate. It's an unusually strong magnet. It generates unusually large eddy currents in the aluminum of the tube. These currents generate a magnetic field that opposes the force due to gravity. We can also picture what's going on by thinking about energy. A good idea! But a tricky idea that when we understand why it's tricky we then see science from a vastly better viewpoint. |
after an unreasonably long wait it finally drops out of the bottom of the tube. |
