What Happens When You Drop A Magnet Inside A Copper Tube [video]
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Re: What Happens When You Drop A Magnet Inside A Copper Tube [video]
#2Yup, it's pretty cool. This was one of the most impressive demo's my physics professor did in our freshman physics class. The point is that as the magnet is falling through the copper tube it creates an electric current which then creates a magnetic field in the opposite direction of the magnet's movement. In other words, this is the practical application of the Right Hand Rule [1].
Two fun facts about it: first, if you cut a small notch along the length of the tube, this will not happen as the current cannot go around the tube.
Second, imagine a superconducting tube with an extremely powerful magnet right in the center of it. Now, try to get the magnet out without cutting the tube.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-hand_rule
Edit: Of course, there's nothing special about the tube being made of copper. Any conducting substance will do.
Re: What Happens When You Drop A Magnet Inside A Copper Tube [video]
#3Here is a much more informative video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqdOyxJZj0U
Re: What Happens When You Drop A Magnet Inside A Copper Tube [video]
#4be very careful when handling such powerful magnets - if you have something metalic on you, they might jump off the table and smack you really hard. bones will be broken.
Re: What Happens When You Drop A Magnet Inside A Copper Tube [video]
#5be very careful when handling such powerful magnets - if you have something metalic on you, they might jump off the table and smack you really hard. bones will be broken.
Fingers will also be pinched and possibly broken.
Re: What Happens When You Drop A Magnet Inside A Copper Tube [video]
#6Ooh eddy currents!
Re: What Happens When You Drop A Magnet Inside A Copper Tube [video]
#7Re: What Happens When You Drop A Magnet Inside A Copper Tube [video]
#8I can only begin to imagine how much a piece of copper tubing that thick costs. That's a lot of copper.
Re: What Happens When You Drop A Magnet Inside A Copper Tube [video]
#9Lenz's Law in action, lots of good demos online, or take any strong magnet and move it rapidly while in close proximity to any non-magnetic conductor (brass, copper, aluminum, etc.) You can feel the force exerted by the generated field. Automobile speedometers used to operate on this principle.
Re: What Happens When You Drop A Magnet Inside A Copper Tube [video]
#10Where can you buy something like that. A magnet is around 150$, but I have no idea where to get a copper tube of that thickness.