All Games Interactive -
[Cached Version]
Last Visited: 3/14/2006
Peter King, a physics professor at Nottingham University, said: "We can take an object and float it in mid-air because the magnetic forces on the object are enough to balance gravity."The device exploits diamagnetism.Place non-magnetic objects inside a strong enough magnetic field and they are forced to act like weak magnets themselves.Generate a field that is stronger below and weaker above, and the resulting upward magnetic force cancels out gravity.
Scientists have used diamagnetism to make wood, strawberries and, famously, a living frog fly."That force is strong enough to float things with a density similar to water, but not things with the density of rocks," Prof King said.