Zero G at Earth Sea Level
The Flying Frog AVI or the Flying Flowers AVI
A little frog (alive !) and a water ball levitate inside a Ø32mm vertical bore of a Bitter solenoid in a magnetic field of about 16 Tesla at the Nijmegen High Field Magnet Laboratory.
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(Click on the images to get larger ones)
The image of a high-temperature superconductor levitating above a magnet in fog of liquid
nitrogen can hardly surprise anyone these days - it has become common knowledge that
superconductors are ideal diamagnetics and magnetic field must expel them. On the other
hand, the enclosed photographs of water and a frog hovering inside a magnet (not on board
a spacecraft) are somewhat counterintuitive and will probably take many people (even
physicists) by surprise. This is the first observation of magnetic levitation of
living organisms as well as the first images of diamagnetics levitated in a normal,
room-temperature environment (if we disregard the tale about Flying Coffin of Mohammed as
such evidence, of course). In fact, it is possible to levitate magnetically every material
and every living creature on the earth due to the always present molecular magnetism. The
molecular magnetism is very weak (millions times weaker than ferromagnetism) and usually
remains unnoticed in everyday life, thereby producing the wrong impression that materials
around us are mainly nonmagnetic. But they are all magnetic. It is just that magnetic
fields required to levitate all these "nonmagnetic" materials have to be
approximately 100 times larger than for the case of, say, superconductors.
Whether an object will or will not levitate in a magnetic field B is defined by the
balance between the magnetic force F = M
B and gravity mg = 
V g where
is the material density, V is the volume and g = 9.8m/s2. The
magnetic moment M = (
/ µ0)VB so that F = (/µ0)BVB
= (/2µ0)VB2.
Therefore, the vertical field gradient B2 required
for levitation has to be larger than 2µ0 g/. Molecular susceptibilities are typically 10-5
for diamagnetics and 10-3 for paramagnetic materials and, since is most often a few g/cm3,
their magnetic levitation requires field gradients ~1000 and 10 T2/m,
respectively. Taking l = 10cm as a typical size of high-field magnets and B2 ~ B2/l as
an estimate, we find that fields of the order of 1 and 10T are sufficient to cause
levitation of para- and diamagnetics. This result should not come as a surprise because,
as we know, magnetic fields of less than 0.1T can levitate a superconductor (= -1) and, from the formulas above,
the magnetic force increases as B2.
The water and the frog are but two examples of magnetic levitation. We have observed
plenty of other materials floating in magnetic field - from simple metals (Bi and Sb),
liquids (propanol, acetone and liquid nitrogen) and various polymers to everyday things
such as various plants and living creatures (frogs and fish). We hope that our photographs
will help many - particularly, non-physicists - to appreciate the importance of magnetism
in the world around us. For instance, it is not always necessary to organize a space
mission to study the effects of microgravity- some experiments, e.g. plants or crystal
growth, can be performed inside a magnet instead. Importantly, the ability to levitate
does not depend on the amount of material involved, V, and high-field magnets can
be made to accommodate large objects, animals or even man. In the case of living
organisms, no adverse effects of strong static magnetic fields are known - after all, our
frog levitated in fields comparable to those used in commercial in-vivo imaging systems
(currently up to 10T). The small frog looked comfortable inside the magnet and,
afterwards, happily joined its fellow frogs in a biology department.
A.K.
Geim, J.C. Maan.
in collaboration with
H.A.Carmona (University of Sao Carlos)
P.C.Main (Universty of Nottingham)
More photographs
of levitating objects.
And of levitating objects.
The best of the press coverage so far:
"If frogs can fly, there is no reason why John Major cannot be Prime
Minister"
And the best of public response so far (have a good laugh!)
Go to the HFML Home Page.
Last updated on 23-jul-97 ln
| Frog avi works |
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| .AVI or .MOV |
| Nut |
 |
| .AVI |
| Flowers flowers avi works |
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| .AVI |
| Water ball |
 |
| .AVI or .MOV |
| Grass Hopper |
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| .MOV |
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Bobby presents another great file of links to other electro-magnetic anti-gravity visionaries:
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This page is part of WEIRD SCIENCE / AMATEUR SCIENCE. Created 12/94. If you have any
tesla-oriented files you'd like to see put on the net, feel free to contact me and I'll
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The files in the list below are available from this Keelynet mirror
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only on Keelynet itself, and have not been uploaded to ELEKTROMAGNUM as yet.
Keelynet mirror at ELEKTROMAGNUM, with excellent indexing system
Try Elektromagnum itself, with lots of interesting stuff!
TESLAC.ZIP U/L on 01/19/94 Desc | Tesla Coil Design Program Sz = 36864 DL = 50 Last = 08/26/94 | TESLACII.EXE U/L on 07/28/94 Desc | A NEW VERSION OF TESLAC, THE TESLA COIL Sz = 59904 DL = 32 Last = 09/15/94 | DESIGN PROGRAM. hardy1.asc U/L on 08/01/92 Desc | double helix energy emission from a Sz = 11150 DL = 19 Last = 06/15/94 | Tesla coil excited pyramid (see.GIF) TESLA2.ASC U/L on 08/29/90 Desc | basic Tesla coil theory Sz = 4943 DL = 16 Last = 07/30/94 | TESLA3.ASC U/L on 08/29/90 Desc | influence of Vedic philosophy on Tesla's Sz = 39407 DL = 9 Last = 07/30/94 | work À tesla4.asc U/L on 11/05/90 Desc | the Scalar Howitzer and a good descript Sz = 50644 DL = 12 Last = 07/30/94 | of the Tesla wave principles tesla5.asc U/L on 01/13/91 Desc | The Greatest Hacker - includes SDI info Sz = 26058 DL = 12 Last = 07/30/94 | and Tesla Anecdotes tesla6.asc U/L on 02/24/92 Desc | Death Rays and how Tesla probably caused Sz = 32610 DL = 10 Last = 06/30/94 | the Tunguska crater, good info.... teslafe1.asc U/L on 02/01/93 Desc |Article on the Tesla Power Box as used Sz = 28599 DL = 10 Last = 05/19/94 | in a 1931 Packard to drive 80hp AC motor teslafe2.asc U/L on 02/01/93 Desc | sysop comments on Tesla Power Box with Sz = 15867 DL = 6 Last = 05/19/94 | Moray comparisons zap.asc U/L on 08/02/92 Desc | 2.3 MV Tesla coil experiments with some Sz = 10072 DL = 12 Last = 05/20/94 | anomalous observations (see .GIF's) TESLAFE1.GIF U/L on 02/01/93 Desc | shows parallel version of Tesla Power Sz = 9801 DL = 24 Last = 04/23/94 | Box...conceptual of course TESLAFE2.GIF U/L on 02/01/93 Desc | shows SERIES version of Tesla Power Sz = 7746 DL = 22 Last = 10/28/93 | Box... teslapic U/L on 03/18/91 Desc | Graphics of Tesla Howitzer. From T.E. Sz = 133371 DL = 52 Last = 08/26/94 | Beardens book. IBM's only. Read me file
Here are three more files from Keelynet which are NOT yet on the two mirror sites. They run on PC compatibles: TESLABLD.EXE U/L on 06/10/93 Desc | How to build your own Tesla coil with Sz = 57435 DL = 77 Last = 08/28/94 | diagrams and parts list...very good TESLAC.ZIP U/L on 01/19/94 Desc | Tesla Coil Design Program Sz = 36864 DL = 50 Last = 08/26/94 | TESLACOL.ZIP U/L on 11/29/92 Desc | program to design your own coil.. Sz = 110638 DL = 70 Last = 09/12/94 | excellent program!
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//// Special Thanx...
