Pumpkin Levitation?

[Tsunami982]

UPDATE: So apparently its not feasible to levitate a pumpkin with regular magnets at room temperature. How about a plastic pumpkin pail (similar to those that McDonald's used to give out)? Ideas?

Original Post:

I'm thinking about trying to levitate a pumpkin (hollowed out and carved). Does anyone know how strong of magnets I would need to do this (approx) or better yet have a link to where I could buy some online (doesnt have to be done by Halloween).

I was thinking about putting one magnet in the pumpkin and suspending another one on top creating a pulling force to levitate it. I realize perfectly balancing out the pumpkin will be a bit hard so I am thinking about getting magnets slightly stronger than needed and anchoring the pumpkin to the base of the table with some fishing line.

Any ideas and/or suggesttions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


David.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: Tsunami982
I'm thinking about trying to levitate a pumpkin (hollowed out and carved). Does anyone know how strong of magnets I would need to do this (approx) or better yet have a link to where I could buy some online (doesnt have to be done by Halloween).

I was thinking about putting one magnet in the pumpkin and suspending another one on top creating a pulling force to levitate it. I realize perfectly balancing out the pumpkin will be a bit hard so I am thinking about getting magnets slightly stronger than needed and anchoring the pumpkin to the base of the table with some fishing line.

Any ideas and/or suggesttions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


David.

While I don't know where to start, I've got a link to a pull force chart from a seller of larger magnets. Pull force can probably be converted to repel force somehow.

I'd expect it'll depend entirely on the weight of said pumpkin.

 

[FP]

As a child I had a toy like that where you could levitate a spinning top. It was very hard to get it perfectly balanced though. Powerful magnets will probably just rip through the pumpkin.

 

[dakels]

I thought you meant real levitation

 

[CrazyLazy]

Problem is making sure the pumpkin hovers over the magnets and just doesn't go off to the side. I would just tie it up to a tree with fishing line.

 

[Evadman]

The force is going to fall off at the square of the distance. You would need some SERIOUSLY strong magnets. a 30lb attractive force magnet is 30 lbs at 0 inches. At 1/4 of an inch, you would be under 5 lbs of pull force, at 1/2" you have a few ounces.

Lets assume a 5 lb weight. That would have about 1" thick skin, and you wanted to levitate 1 inch. That gives you a total of 2 inches of space between the magnets. You would need magnets that have an attractive force in the 2800lb range each. If you put one on each side of your hand, you would squash your hand into a thin film with almost 6 thousand pounds of force. Then, you would never be able to separate the magnets for try number 2. You would also piss off the UPS guy, because he wouldn't be able to pick up the package from the floor of this steel truck.

Hint: start a lot smaller before you kill yourself.

A scalable example:
Linky. This is 2 284 lb attractive force magnets. One is being levitated by the other. The magnet being levitated weighs 5.75 ounces and is being levitated 4.5". So it takes a combined total of 568 lbs rated magnets to lift the weight of the magnet itself.

That means that these 2 magnets, with 568 lbs of force, can lift 5.75 ounces of weight (5.75 payload + 5.75 oz of magnet) 2.1 inches or so in a perfect world. (sq/rt of the distance * 2 mass)

 

[effowe]

Use a powerful fan blowing upwards into a tube with the pumpkin in it.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: Evadman
Hint: start a lot smaller before you kill yourself.

:laugh:

 

[Jeff7]

Warning: People with pacemakers should avoid Tsunami982's house. You might die.
No, not from fright. Seriously, his pumpkins will kill you.
:laugh:


Best bet for easy levitation is with liquid nitrogen. If you do find a way of easily levitating a pumpkin with regular magnets, at room temperature, do remember to name the effect after yourself, and mention ATOT when you're accepting your Nobel Prize.

 

[Tsunami982]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Warning: People with pacemakers should avoid Tsunami982's house. You might die.
No, not from fright. Seriously, his pumpkins will kill you.
:laugh:


Best bet for easy levitation is with liquid nitrogen. If you do find a way of easily levitating a pumpkin with regular magnets, at room temperature, do remember to name the effect after yourself, and mention ATOT when you're accepting your Nobel Prize.

Hmm.... perhaps my original idea was a bit too ambitious. ok... how about levitating plastic pumpkin pail?

Just out of curiosity, how would you set up your liquid nitrogen levitating pumpkin?

 

[Jeff7]

Text

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: Tsunami982
I'm thinking about trying to levitate a pumpkin (hollowed out and carved). Does anyone know how strong of magnets I would need to do this (approx) or better yet have a link to where I could buy some online (doesnt have to be done by Halloween).

I was thinking about putting one magnet in the pumpkin and suspending another one on top creating a pulling force to levitate it. I realize perfectly balancing out the pumpkin will be a bit hard so I am thinking about getting magnets slightly stronger than needed and anchoring the pumpkin to the base of the table with some fishing line.

Any ideas and/or suggesttions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


David.

While I don't know where to start, I've got a link to a pull force chart from a seller of larger magnets. Pull force can probably be converted to repel force somehow.

I'd expect it'll depend entirely on the weight of said pumpkin.

Build a base with 3 magnets in a triangle. Embed or otherwise attach a few magnets, flipped, to the bottom of the pumpkin. Should be self-centering.