During July 2018, a group of top high school Spanish students attended a summer scientific camp at the University of Seville. The topic of the project was magnetic levitation. During the one-week-long stay, the students investigated several possible ways of achieving stable levitation. These included diamagnetic levitation, use of superconductors, induced current levitation, and the toy Levitron®. The experiments were accompanied by their corresponding conceptual and theoretical explanations.
References
1.
Peter G.
LoPresti
, Theodore W.
Manikas
, and Jeff G.
Kohlbeck
, “An electrical engineering summer academy for middle school and high school students
,” IEEE Trans. Educ.
53
(1
), 18
–25
(2010
).2.
Ali
Mehrizi-Sani
, “Everyday electrical engineering: A one-week summer academy course for high school students
,” IEEE Trans. Educ.
55
(4
), 488
–494
(2012
).3.
4.
M. V.
Berry
and A. K.
Geim
, “Of flying frogs and Levitrons
,” Eur. J. Phys.
18
, 307
–313
(1997
).5.
M. D.
Simon
and A. K.
Geim
, “Diamagnetic levitation: Flying frogs and floating magnets
,” J. Appl. Phys.
87
(9
), 6200
–6204
(2000
).6.
A. T.
Pérez
, P.
García-Sánchez
, M. A. S.
Quintanilla
, and A.
Fernández-Prieto
, “Levitation? Yes, it is possible!
,” <http://arxiv.org/abs/1901.09603> (Additional material).7.
V.
Koudelkova
, “How to simply demonstrate diamagnetic levitation with pencil lead
,” Phys. Educ.
51
, 014001
(2016
).8.
Aurelio
Agliolo Gallitto
, “School adopts an experiment: The magnetic levitation of superconductors
,” Phys. Educ.
45
(5
), 511
–515
(2010
).9.
J.
Taweeponga
, K.
Thamaphat
, and S.
Limsuwan
, “Jumping ring experiment: effect of temperature, non-magnetic material and applied current on the jump height
,” Procedia Eng.
32
, 982
–988
(2012
).10.
P. J. H.
Tjossem
and V.
Cornejo
, “Measurements and mechanisms of Thomson's jumping ring
,” Am. J. Phys.
68
, 238
–244
(2000
).11.
P. J.
Ford
and R. A. L.
Sullivan
, “The jumping ring experiment revisited
,” Phys. Educ.
26
, 380
–382
(1991
).12.
A. R.
Alcon
, U.S. patent No. 5,319,336. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 1994
.13.
Guillermo
Donoso
, Celso L.
Ladera
, and Pablo
Martín
, “Damped fall of magnets inside a conducting pipe
,” Am. J. Phys.
79
(2
), 193
–200
(2011
).14.
M. V.
Berry
, “The Levitron (TM): An adiabatic trap for spins
,” Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A
452
, 1207
–1220
(1996
).15.
Martin D.
Simon
, Lee O.
Helfinger
, and S. L.
Ridgway
, “Spin stabilized magnetic levitation
,” Am. J. Phys.
65
(4
), 286
–292
(1997
).16.
T. B.
Jones
, Masao
Washizu
, and Roger
Gans
, “Simple theory for the Levitron
,” J. Appl. Phys.
82
, 883
–888
(1997
).17.
A. T.
Pérez
and P.
García-Sánchez
, “Dynamics of a Levitron under a periodic magnetic forcing
,” Am. J. Phys.
83
(2
), 133
–142
(2015
).18.
Gregor
Verbic
, Chanaka
Keerthisinghe
, and Archie C.
Chapman
, “A project-based cooperative approach to teaching sustainable energy systems
,” IEEE Trans. Educ.
60
(3
), 221
–228
(2017
).© 2019 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2019
American Association of Physics Teachers
AAPT members receive access to the American Journal of Physics and The Physics Teacher as a member benefit. To learn more about this member benefit and becoming an AAPT member, visit the Joining AAPT page.