Levitating a Magnet in a Vacuum Chamber

I set up a magnetic levitation apparatus in a chamber with about 1/800th normal air pressure.
Help me make videos by donating here: / codyslab

[@grivar]

The magnet is stopping due to Lenz's law. Basically, the moving magnet is creating a magnetic flux. The law states that any change in flux (in this case, it's creation through spinning) will work to counteract the change. So, the spinning magnet is creating Eddy currents which cause the magnet to stop spinning.

[@SixTough]

RE exactly what I was thinking.I wonder if a circular magnet would spin longer as the circumference will just be moving over the same area

[@squidcaps4308]

I can bet that the objects ends up aligned north south on earth's magnetic field and that is enough to stop it. It oscillates in the end.

[@grivar]

SixThough, That's a great idea. A spherical or cylindrical magnet should work better. SquidCaps, The north and south poles of the magnet are at the top and bottom, so aliment wouldn't make sense.

[@zigisamblak]

Besides that, a perfect vacuum doesn't exist so it would be impossible to completely remove all resistances.

[@mortlet5180]

hkcute; Flux isn't the issue. Its the second time and spatial derivatives of the magnetic vector potential which induces an opposite (eddy) current density. And yes, if it was perfectly homogenious a spinning cyllinder wouldn't induce any eddy currents in a plane purpendicular to its axis, but you won't find any sufficiently perfect magnet for that to actually work. Zigi Samblak; At the (pretty bad) level of vacuum that he could generate, air resistance would be orders of magnitude weaker than the electro-magnetic losses. In other words, it would stay spinning for literally hundreds of minutes if air resistance were the ONLY loss mechanism.

[@LazerLord10]

Why not just hook up that little glass pipe to atmospheric pressure and have a 'vent' valve to push it? I think you could get better spinning with that.

[@thewrongdrugs]

I was thinking that while facepalming rly hard. Or yk he could've idk, remote-controlled a let? Ugh..

[@jessicabevan4657]

2:17 That's a really clever way of getting it spinning.

[@mateowelles3400]

Not really clever, since it didn't work

[@Arknio]

Christopher Nah it didn't work, it wasn't strong enough as he said. I really like seeing how he sets stuff off with the laser though. I don't know what he could do without that thing.

[@muh1h1]

I would have used water instead of wood, It would have boiled off in the vacuum and get the thing spinning i guess :)

[@etan4372]

water equalizes too much, you'd need to get ALL of the water your trying to heat up to boiling temperature which with a lazer would take ages

[@victordesanderobledo4522]

Matthew Bevan instead of burning wood, he can burn gunpowder, it would produce more gas.

[@AdrenalineVideos1337]

the lazy nerd in me very much appreciates all the work you put into this channel! thanks cody!

[@sandqwert]

Nothing lasts forever, even cold november rain....

[@BH-rh2bh]

sandqwert the correct answer is nothing, it will outlast anything, the problem nothing is the concept of the lack of anything, this concept could better be described but human intelligence can only go thus far, nothing was before the universe nothing will be after the universe, thus nothing lasts forever

[@jusb1066]

the smell of farts under the duvet

[@PhilosopherArns]

it rains in november?

[@DamianReloaded]

It's hard to hold a candle In the cold november rain.

[@WhileTrueCode]

But... Diamonds are forever... forevaah foreverahh

[@AFastidiousCuber]

My hypotheses for why it stopped (in order of likelihood) are: 1) Eddy currents and magnetic resistance 3) Earth's magnetic field 2) Earth's gravity 4) Not a perfect vacuum The solution: Use superconducting magnets in a perfect vacuum, in intergalactic space.

[@cool123guy5]

AFastidiousCuber it would already spin forever in space

[@Bryophytan]

Knuckles Unless something gets in da wae

[@kurtilein3]

Has basicallybeen done, in the Gravity Probe B - Mission. Except they did it in an orbit around the earth, because gravity causes no friction, this difference does not matter. They levitated spheres coated in a superconductor cooled to 2K in a vacuum surrounded by superfluid helium, surrounded by a superconductor.

[@redacted144]

Basically, that’s planets and stars

[@introprospector]

The earth's magnetic field can be reduced by several magnitudes inside a Mu-Metal chamber

[@Halfstronaut]

you demonstrated why it won't spin forever, when you attempted to move the magnet to start it spinning. Although, there is no force of friction due to air, the bismuth's irregular shape experiences the magnetic field differently as it spins. this still acts as a type of drag. perhaps if you levitate a more perfect sphere you might see more noticeable effects.

[@chbrules]

A perpetual motion machine? In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

[@vivimannequin]

chbrules I refuse to

[@Phapchamp]

@@vivimannequin REEEEEEEEE YOU CAN'T DON'T CREATE A PARADOX

[@vivimannequin]

Kono platelet da! Already got one planned

[@Phapchamp]

@@vivimannequin shit now I gotta go back in time before you plan that shit do you know how much ppl died because of you!

[@thepotatoarmy980]

I understood that reference

[@Phoenix88.]

You just made a big bulky compass!

[@ContraHacker1337]

Wait...that makes so much sense. And even if he had a perfect magnet and a non conductive magnetic material, it would still stop because of the earth's magnetic poles.

[@TheMorpheus017]

No, it does not. it's will just add some sinusoidal speed wooble, when rotation slowed down half way, and speed up other half.

[@bakerrv]

Not sure if it is the earths magnetic field doing this or not. The question I have is why it unwinds when it stops, then rotates the opposite direction, and continues oscillating until it stops completely. Need to mark the spinning magnet and see if it stops every time in the same position relative the the earths magnetic field to be sure! Or it could be the orientation of the supporting magnetic fields. More testing needs to be done.

[@TheMorpheus017]

External magnetic field applies torque to the magnet, trying to align it's magnetic field. But there is no feedback according to magnet's spin speed, if magnet is not perfectly aligned it just always aplies some torque, until magnet crosses balance point at which torque changes direction. But magnet already got some momentum, it can't instantly stop. So it's continues to rotate after balance point until rotational force accumulates enough and it starts to spin other way. I dont think it's only earth's mangetic field, huge magnet on top must add to it. Maybe, quite a lot. So it will be resultant force.

[@martinda7446]

Apart from the fact it's sitting inside a field made from a giant magnet sitting above it a million times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field.

[@ExperimentalFun]

Basically it wants to line up with the Earths magnetic field like a compass. I'm wondering what if you had a magnetic track and a superconductor that you pushed around the track, that will eliminate the magnetic flux, You would then have the issue of keeping the superconductor cold but if it was in a vacuum and levitating then it should stay cold.

[@ericthompson429]

From what?

[@ItsJustGilly]

Sounds like a pretty good second experiment

[@BobbyDukeArts]

Hi-ed everyone, welcome back to Cody's Lab

[@frogbear02]

i always assumed it was "alright everyone!" o.o

[@christopyper1287]

It is alright everyone...

[@seededsoul]

Be easy on him, dude drinks cyanide and breathes Xenon.

[@mamtabattina6438]

For me it was " I know everyone" with a smiling face always.

[@whyumad2353]

Woah Bobby duke wtf are you doing here lmao, I’m subscribed tho😘

[@electronicsNmore]

Bismuth is cool stuff.

[@vivimannequin]

electronicsNmore too bad he hasn't done a video centering around Bismuth

[@mortlet5180]

I really LOVE these electro-magnetic experiments! You could maybe try casting the bismuth into a circular mould with many thin pieces of plastic acting as insulators (like in transformer laminations). Also, perhaps you could try a non conductive ceramic magnet (AlNiCo and Samarium Cobalt are about equally conductive, with ferrites being MUCH less conductive) as levitation device? You could theoretically even use many small pieces of Neodymium magnets (without the nickel coating of cource) and have them pin a thin insulator between themselves (mica perhaps?).

[@CovertKiwi]

I'm so happy you did this because during my physics class in last year we were talking about efficiency of motors due to friction and it got me thinking about this exact situation, I just never had the opportunity to look into this.

[@SupremeRuleroftheWorld]

try using a round magnet, ball bearing type would be best. the square shape changes the magnetic fields and slow it down.

[@theCodyReeder]

I might try it at some point but I dont see any reason that would make a huge difference.

[@mortlet5180]

Cody'sLab; It does increase the circularly induced eddy currents (kind of like a magnetic stirrer works). Asymmatry in the same plane as the conductor is bad news, but since you have a pretty substantial conductor in all 3 dimentions (and the entire vacuum chamber would also have a BIG effect, even though it is relatively far away - see Gauss' Law for charge screening), ANY deviation in the up-down direction would also cause quite a lot of enegy loss in those modes.

[@dmk_games]

Cody'sLab laminating the metal to reduce eddy currents?

[@MrEvilchickens]

A round/disc magnet will have a axially symmetry magnetic field, if you rotate about the axis of symmetry the magnetic field doesn't change and so you can eliminate the eddy currents. To reduce the faraday disc effect you'd need to use only diamangetic levitation but i'm not sure of the relative strength of these effects. A square magnet doesn't have a axially symmetrical magnetic field. Also you could just use polycardon which has a larger diamagnetic effect than bismuth but might be difficult to get a large enough sample.

[@kooox]

MrEvilchickens the problem I see is finding a round magnet that is accurately symmetric enough. Without that, it will spin slanted (as the square magnet in the video) and have symmetry defects, which will end up with the same result (albeit maybe a slightly longer spin duration)

[@noonerofl]

Replace the air with a superfluid, maybe depending on your temperature. A fundamental experiment here, I love it! Analogues of this are still "spinning" with superconducting loops.

[@akulkadam6064]

I think the magnet probably slow down mainly because of Eddy currents.

[@akulkadam6064]

Nice experiment though

[@TheMorpheus017]

I do think same way, but could you make that prediction before you seen magnet slowing down? I couldnt.

[@akulkadam6064]

morpheus ꀊ Yes I agree!!

[@zachell1991]

Eddy currents in bismuth are probably quite low, since it his high electrical resistance for a metal. Copper Electrical resistivity is 16.78 nΩ·m (at 20 °C) or 0.00000001676 Ω·m bismuth Electrical resistivity is 1.29 µΩ·m (at 20 °C) or 0.00000129 Ω·m So if I did my math right bismuth has 76.8 times higher resistance then copper. I'm thinking about making a bismuth tube to drop my 3/4" neodymium magnet through, so i can see how much the eddy currents slow it down compared to dropping it into a copper tube.

[@TheMorpheus017]

There is not much inertia going on in this magnet. By the way, one comment out there pointed out, that if magnetic field would be very axial with center of mass, there would be no change of magnetic field in any point around magnet spinning on same axis. So, +Cody'sLab, could you please check same with spheroidal or, may be, cylindrical magnet, and, may be, huge chunk of copper above it?

[@thatee1006]

Interesting to see the experiment, love your creative ways of interacting with objects inside the vacuum chamber. +1 for Lenz's law.

[@philipbender956]

Hello Cody would the magnet spin better if it was balanced?

[@TheMorpheus017]

I beleive, it wont. Gravity might slow it down when one part of magnet is going up, but when it rotated 180 degree, same part will go down.

[@moonasha]

you know those hand crank flashlights? You feel more resistance the faster you crank them. That resistance is a rotating magnetic field cutting a conductor and inducing current into something. This is the force that stops this magnet

[@MakoRuu]

The magnetic field itself is resistance. You would need a constant permanent magnet inside the chamber to apply continuous pressure against it.

[@MelindaGreen]

Funny to see such a science buff disappointed at not producing perpetual motion, but kudos to Cody for accepting evidence.

[@hamdanalharbi2206]

try doing it with a sphere/ball magnet .

[@pietervanhooydonck5903]

Thank you so much for this video Cody. Back in highschool I wanted to research this for my "thesis" but my teacher thought I wouldn't be able to finish it. Now I finally know the outcome!

[@WhatIveLearned]

When I clicked on the thumbnail I expected to hear "Will it spin forever?" in the Blendtec guy's voice

[@coffeyjjj]

Hi, Cody. You need to use a spherical magnet instead of a cube. The magnetic field of a cube shaped magnet has components that vary with rotation angle. Rotation of the cube magnet then generates a time-varying magnetic field and this will always induce eddy currents in any metals near the magnet. These eddy currents dissipate energy thermally. This is the energy loss that is damping the rotation of the cube magnet. Since the field of a spherical magnet is unchanging with respect to rotation on its dipole axis, it eliminates the time-varying field components and thereby eliminates the eddy current losses that are damping the rotation of your cube magnet. When using a spherical magnet, the only remaining source of eddy current induction will be due to imperfections in the magnets field due to material defects, but these will be very small effects.

[@HARBINGER8752]

the real secret to fidget spinning: vacuum chambers.

[@loughkb]

The spinning magnet is creating small electrical currents in the metal below it and these currents are causing their own magnetic fields that are counter to the small magnet and thereby slowing it's spin. Similar to dropping a magnet down the middle of a copper pipe and watching it's rate of fall slow.

[@Adio_]

Hi Cody, are you going to make another Q and A on reddit?

[@Adio_]

Well then you are two years late because when he had around 9000 subs he responded to me and almost every second comment :D

[@deluxeassortment]

Adio_ I try clicking ur profile but I no get game

[@VfletchS]

That it's rocking back and forth after the first attempt shows that it isn't just air resisting it spinning. Weight distribution or something else, there's a "hump" there that it has to overcome.

[@RWBHere]

The Earth's magnetic field will also be absorbing energy from the system. Magnetic remanence is another source of loss. Then there's still a little bit of air still inside the chamber. Thanks Cody. Interesting,as always.

[@mrstupidus]

I think you would need a perfectly ballanced cube or disk to let it turn longer, because the cube doesn't look's like that. If the cube is nearly at the end of the applied force, it swing's back and forth. Which means that there is a point on the cube lower than all other on the downside, which is affected by gravity.

[@ham2645]

Wouldn't a spherical magnet work better?

[@mfcobb1]

Get you an MKS SRG, The MKS Spinning Rotor Gauge (SRG) line is a high-vacuum gauge that operates by measuring the amount of viscous drag on a magnetically-levitated spinning ball, which is directly related to the number of molecules in the chamber (i.e. pressure).

[@drew6017]

That would make a good fidget spinner

[@jamielynne2446]

fidget spinner in a vacuum great idea

[@gabrielc6252]

it's pulling in one side, you can see it choosing a fixed position, going back and forward until it finds it. so the magnet is not positioned correctly, it's pulling in several directions at the same time

[@off-gridhillbillystyle3735]

Hey Cody I was about to dive into this. Check this out. Pipe an air compressor into the glass to push the magnet. It has to be a very small amount of air pressure. And your decompresor would have to constantly run. But just for proof of concept in space. This could be it.

[@madlad847]

Great idea, had exactly that one in mind already years ago, but the perpetuum mobile will always be a dream that never comes true...

[@BloomLota]

Cody pls can you do More CODY'S MINE! #CODY'SMINE

[@even7steven]

Great example of magnetic braking without any outside forces.

[@stacheification]

If I recall, the viscosity of air is constant down to about a torr, which is what you pumped down to, so you're probably still seeing significant air resistance effects. You might try with a lower vacuum pressure if your system can do that.

[@hudsonbauman200]

only ones up this late love u thow

[@Gmod2012lo1]

its 2pm here

[@hudsonbauman200]

its 5 am here

[@smokyz_]

3pm herre

[@smokyz_]

Woke up an hour ago

[@seigeengine]

It's KZbin. You can literally just wait and watch it later. That's the entire reason internet video replaced TV for people.

[@marcin_szczurowski]

Cody, you might want to try electrostatic levitation, if you really like challenges. All you need is HV generator, concave base and very lightweight and thin insulator. Levitating disk will have some charge so it will not be perpetual motion, but charge count compared to metal will be very small. Actually base can be insulator as well, conductors might be arranged in it radially from the center, so Eddy currents will not be induced.

[@TomMS]

Apparently these magnets (assuming you're using a neodymium magnet) are usually coated with nickel having a 1.4*10^7 S/m conductivity but the neodymium iron boride, despite being a ceramic, has a conductivity of about 1*10^6 S/m. So, probably some of the effects of the eddy currents, which would indeed be on the surface of the magnet, would be somewhat lessened if you removed that coat.

[@suspectx3473]

love the hints at the end

[@cynarka850]

I think it is the magnet's "compass" behaviour that is slowing it down. As the magnet wants to point north it is periodically accelerating towards it and slowing away from it. Thats why when it is slowing down it will slow and then speed up before slowing again. I imagine doing this experiment a considerable distance away from an active planet's core would work.

[@realityChemist]

Hey Cody, if you're looking for a magnetic material that's non-conductive, you should check out some ferrites. They're good insulators and they're ferrimagnetic, so if you put a piece in a strong magnetic field you can permanently magnetize it. If you get a hard ferrite (high coercivity) it might work in this experiment, though it won't be nearly as strong as the neodymium magnet you've got so I'm not entirely sure it would hover above the bismuth as well.

[@ArchevalsArchives]

My best guess is that this is caused by electromagnetic resistance. The best example i can think of when you crank a hand generator no matter how hard you push it ramps up slowly because of the resistance of the fields interacting with eachother. Basically an electromagnetic form of friction

[@lucianoayb7751]

Wood doesnt burn in vaccum, and probably there would be induction on the bismuth because it isn't a superconductor replicating identically the magnetic field lines. And the superior magnet would induce a current on the bottom one due to magnetic field flux be changing. Thanks Cody, I aways wanted to see if it worked out, if I had condition I could do the same experimento that you did.

[@MattisProbably]

Forever is such a strong word... Even in a perfect vacuum (and not just 1/800 of normal air pressure) it would still slow down. Even if you would remove everything you possibly could that interacts with the magnet it would slow down. Very, very slowly but it would still stop eventually. There is always something that will interact with this system. If we assume that the universe will exist for all eternity in some fashion without ever stopping to exist and if we assume that this system can exist in this configuration for all eternity as well, even the tiniest possible influence on it will eventually make it stop spinning. I guess it depends on how you define "forever" :) If you define it as "until no one exists anymore to witness it stop spinning" then I could get behind it. If no one exists anymore to care whether it's spinning anymore or not, I guess then we can say that it did spin forever ;)

[@sockmon1]

Visually stunning, informative, casual and clean editing; Cody, you gorgeous gangster - this is my favourite video of yours (been a fan since Westminster bees).

[@Eliphas_Leary]

Take the bismuth levitating device and move your finger tip through the field between levitating magnet and carrier magnet. It's one of the most funky ways to realize that your body is diamagnetic...

[@tp6335]

You could try embedding a superconductor in solid nitrogen using evaporative cooling. The vacuum would freeze the nitrogen and would simultaneously isolate the whole thing so as long as you keep intense light from it, it would levitate.

[@aemong]

it still react or lines up into the direction of magnetic poles of the earth like a compass that's why i think it will not really spin forever even if there is no air resistance.

[@emostorm7]

The magnetic force between the magnets making the levitation makes it slow down like friction. Even if it didn't unless you had a complete vacuum air would slow it down eventually

[@mhardy006]

Before and during the experiment when it stopped it would then rotated a little in the opposite direction. I also noticed that the speed once it was in a vacuum varied depending on which side it was facing. That tells me that it isn't balanced. Even though it's being levitated it is still subject to the force of gravity. I think the heavy side is a force of friction.

[@codyduff655]

you should pressurize a fluid then bring it room temp. so that, when it depressurizes it will be about 40 F or "ice cold". in my ap chem class we thought of a soft drink that when you open it, it will depressurize and chill the drink inside so you don't have to chill your drinks.

[@qwadratix]

The field of the magnet extends throughout all space. It is necessarily going to interact with every conductor in the universe, creating eddy currents. Those conductors in general are not superconductors so have electrical resistance. That leads to heating and energy loss. So the answer is no it won't. No matter what you do eventually it will stop. (Well, down to the quantum limit of zero-point motion that is)

[@kips_ytc]

if im not wrong a magnetic field has magnetic friction acting on the bismuth , still doesnt defy the law of thermodynamics , its just losing lesser energy over a period of time as it is harder for it to disperse energy which can be seen as the most efficient way we have found to sustain motion

[@jacewalton6677]

Eddy currents the changing magnetic field induce a current in the bismith. We need a non conductive paramagnetic material

[@ruthlessadmin]

The fact that the magnet is slowly oscillating back and forth when it should be at rest, indicates to me that it's not going to spin forever. There appears to be some resistance in the magnetic field itself that the object is "bouncing" off of. It will probably sit there and oscillate for a long time but eventually stop doing that as well.

[@zacharyo9547]

its also constantly having to use energy to remain in the upright position bouncing occasionally off a confining magnetic field creating an additional loss of energy

[@zegzezon5539]

Without *two opposing* magnets on its side, the setup is essentially just like a *BIG COMPASS* which upon the loss of *momentum* will eventually point to the *magnetic north.*

[@davegtar]

*before watching* No it will not spin for ever..... Eddie currents generated within the metal will inturn produce an opposing magnetic force which in itself is stronger than 1 atm of pressure (air resistance) *Carries on watching because I just like watching Cody's videos.* Been here since your first few months on youtube Cody :)

[@smoother888]

The eddy current within your metal is creating a dynamic brake within itself. The field of the magnets induce this (Lenz's Law) and can't be avoided.

[@everythingnifty7751]

Maybe its because the magnet is not directly straight up and down. I noticed this because the magnet increased in speed when the lower part of the magnet is closer to the magnet on the bottom but also slowed back down a bit when it turned around. maybe this causes gravity to pull at one side more than the other while its turning because the lower magnet is not extremely level or even more interesting the lower magnet doesn't have the same magnetic push throughout the whole thing and it may be effecting the floating magnet on the right half only maybe causing some extra magnetic friction if that's what you call it.

[@Strategiusz]

the gravitation force from that pipe slowed the cube down XD

[@PeregrineBF]

If you could replace the bismuth with a superconductor you might get further. The trick is getting a high-temperature superconductor ($$$, if you even can) and cooling it down evenly with liquid nitrogen without damaging the vacuum chamber.

[@gummikalli2]

Even if it did not work, this was a really cool experiment and a fantastic setup.

[@TheCorpseGames]

I think you've made a compass. notice at the end of the spin it rocks back and forth. remember that your magnetic fields are not the only ones around. might try again marking which side is facing the front of the chamber at rest if the magnet stops with the same side facing the the front then it might be an outside magnetic field causing the magnet to stop.

[@hippyhobo745]

I don't know how you could get your hands on some, but I recently read an article on Q-carbon, its a type of diamond which is actually ferromagnetic.

[@resonantconsciousness9248]

The reason it slows down is eddy effect's, so it will generate a bit of voltage and slow down.

[@PatrickPoet]

Even without it being conductive it would still attach and detach flux lines. That takes energy.

[@Deadbond1]

I noticed that it is oscillating. This means there is a magnetic torque generating a force opposite to the momentum acting like friction.

[@jacker372]

You should try using magnetic bearings with a motor coil set up so you can spin it with more precision and you can use the induced current to test get rpm data.

[@h2o270]

You are scary smart. Someday I imagine you building a personal spacecraft out of bee honey and old mining equipment.

[@jubstery]

Cody, they now make magnets that basically have their magnetic field blueprinted and created to do amazing things. Like pictures you can only see with a magnetic paper thing. Lol

[@OhighOSkater]

I highly doubt you’ll see this comment because the video is like 2 years old, but you are brilliant. I really enjoy your videos

[@tylerhe]

Please bear in mind that even the small oscillations of the magnet will cause a change in magnetic flux on the NeFeB magnet on which it levitates. As a result, eddy currents will be created to counteract this. Since these cube magnets ARE NOT perfect in the alignment of the "net magnetic dipoles", this will have a dampening effect not only on the linear oscillations, but also reducing the angular momentum. @Cody'sLab

[@OniiChan1337]

Cody the type of dude to invent Perpetual Motion

[@simonlambeth666]

Surely it's the rotation of the magnetic flux which provides the resistance and slows rotation? The rotation will causes an Electoral field and that uses energy from the momentum of the rotating magnet?

[@papilon86]

New vacuum chamber experiment vid! They're my favorites on your channel.

[@lemmonsinmyeyes]

Could you make a dual chamber system, where you pull a big vacuum from one, then open a solenoid to quickly vent the second tank of air? That would be a cool way to see water react quickly in a vacuum

[@nelumbonucifera7537]

The rotating magnet is almost certainly generating eddy currents in the bismuth as well. Perhaps bismuth powder mixed in epoxy would produce lower losses (due to lower conductivity/smaller loop area)?

[@carlospunish]

Nothing can be known to spin forever, once you make a medition its because, in some sort of way, you've generated a change on it, by looking at it you need to shot photons to it, and such has some kind of knetic energy, and perhaps mesuring it gravitational field would alterate the same or influence it gravitationally with the mesuring mechanism.

[@heliopilot1]

If you balanced the field above and below where the bearing would most likely be in the middle it should spin longer. The reason to balance is that at your current position you are still creating an artificial gravity field from the closest object. Balance and you should neutralize the pull.

[@michaelshultz2540]

I noticed that the magnet is a little low on one corner. So it is not balanced. It will stop due to gravity if for no other reason. You can see that at one point in the video, as it is swinging back and forth , only to settle in one specific orientation.

[@charliehorse8686]

At 1:01 it's already clear it won't spin forever, because when it's levitated it rotates, but then rotates back a bit. Something makes it prefer a direction... even possibly Earth's magnetic field.

[@joshginer2588]

believe it or not cody but there are two things factoring into it stoping one which you cant take away and makes sense is magnetic friction cause the way magnets work and two you can take away but it wont make much difference is the light hitting it can slow it down

[@Rexxking7]

If you put a really big magnet on the ground and another really big magnet in geostationary orbit above the magnet on the ground, could you make a floating island in between? We could fill the island with trees and farms and maybe houses, so long as there was no metal in any of them or they'd probability screw with the balance or just fly of into one of the magnets

[@mrrutledge1967]

You should be giving some thought as to why towards the end of the video it was slowly spinning one way then spinning back the other way similar to what something tied to a string would do until the resistance from the string being wound was enough to slow the momentum to a stop. Try giving the cube a quarter turn to see if the field will move it back to a position it is comfortable with. Without the vacuum of course.

[@Armuotas]

Or it just migt try to orient itself along the Earth's magnetic lines. Sure, it's facing up/down direction. But the Earth's field is not exactly paralel to the surface either. I mean, I can stick two small magnets together with a thread in between and it readily orients itself in North/South direction. So hanging in vacuume with all the forces being equilized all it takes is a bit of extra magnetic field to stop it. The fact that it's tilted could make extra tendency to orient along the lines as well as being a consequence of that tendency.

[@gregachard6375]

i think you became my 2nd favourite yt channel after the slowmoguys

[@holden5478]

A round magnet is your best bet. The pole on the square magnet is going to pull against the rotation until it slows down and stops and is lined up with the field.

[@everythingexplained3226]

It will spin extra longer if you cool it close to 0 kelvin. Considerablt less particle colision, since almost all atoms will move in a paralel way, if it is supercooled

[@eCitizen1]

I believe you will find that the spinning magnet has a preferred orientation. Extrapolating from this idea, the magnet must stop, as forces attempting to settle it into its preferred orientation will counter the spinning. This should be relatively easy to test using your apparatus.

[@DigVision]

Non conductive magnetic , Yes, ferrite. According to this brochure, Ferrite-NiZn has a resistivity of 10^4 Ohm·m. This is better than damp wood, at least. You can trade magnetic properties for resistivity by coating and embedding ferrite pellets in an insulator, as suggested in the comment above, but fashioning your own metamaterial will probably involve quite a bit of research and experimentation.

[@ryansergas3894]

Great video as always. You never fail to inspire.

[@Cicirifu]

It'd stop eventually. Eddy currents and material imperfections will provide slight coupling to its surroundings resulting in mechanical friction and electrical heat.

[@dorkusmalorkusalamagorkus3876]

its going to slow down because magnetism is as much a physical force as actually touching something. its 'friction' because just like the surface of two objects rubbing together isnt perfect and so the forces of those imperfect ridges and valleys at a microscopic scale slamming into each other causes heat, the magnetic field - thogh invisible - also has imperfections when sliding against another field that is going to cause minut changes in the action leading up to a slowdown.