Magnetic Levitation Stabilized by Streaming Fluid Flows

Baldwin, Kyle A.; Fouchier, J. B. de; Atkinson, Patrick; Hill, R.; Swift, Michael; Fairhurst, David

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.121.064502

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…It should be noted that the expression of D is somewhat different from that in [4]. In our experiment, l is the half length of the flea and the shape of the flea is a cylinder, which gives different expressions of K and values of g. When the drive magnets rotate at an angular velocity of w , d equation (10) can be rewritten as [4] w…”

Section: Kinetic Analysis Of the Flea In A Viscous Liquidmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…0 ( ) where m 0 is the mass of the flea. The ratio between the viscous torque and the angular velocity D is called the coefficient of liquid viscous torque given by ph = D Kl 3 [4], where h is the viscosity coefficient of the liquid and K is a constant related to the flea's shape and the container given by =…”

Section: Kinetic Analysis Of the Flea In A Viscous Liquidmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Study on the magnetic levitation of a magnetic flea

Jiang,

Wang,

Wang

2023

Eur. J. Phys.

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We investigated the problem of “magnetic levitation” originating from the 33^rd International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT). The problem was first investigated by a PRL paper (K. A. Baldwin et al) in 2018, which states that the flea of a magnetic stirrer spinning fast enough in a liquid with a high viscosity coefficient can jump from the bottom and levitate stably. The magnetic force and gravity balance periodically. This phenomenon includes several concepts: magnetic dipoles, rigid-body rotation, fluid mechanics and magnetic levitation. They are more or less unfamiliar to undergraduate students. However, the movement of the flea could be described with a concise forced vibration equation, which is familiar in textbooks. The phenomenon could be divided into two stages: synchronous movement and levitation state. The transition is the jumping of the flea. We demonstrated this process and presented several equations to build this physical model. The progression of the phenomenon is due to the increase in the drive magnet angular velocity called the drive velocity. We verified our theory by simulation and experiments. Several parameters are experimentally verified to influence the phenomenon. We also discussed the origin of the dynamic stabilization, which would be slightly complicated but worthy for students. In short, we introduce an interesting problem originating from the PRL paper that can be easily achieved under laboratory conditions. We extend some content in a pedagogical way that would be helpful for students to understand the related physical concepts, such as the influence of the viscosity coefficient of the liquid on the flea’s motion, which is not discussed in the PRL paper.

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Section: Kinetic Analysis Of the Flea In A Viscous Liquidmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Kinetic Analysis Of the Flea In A Viscous Liquidmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on the magnetic levitation of a magnetic flea

Jiang,

Wang,

Wang

2023

Eur. J. Phys.

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mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The authors of the Letter [1] discovered an interesting phenomenon. However, the explanation of radial stability of levitation [1] is not completely satisfactory: "In experiments, we observe that the flea is unable to stay centered above the drive magnet below a critical viscosity. Computationally we observe that a simple numerical model of an unconstrained flea that excludes fluid inertia is also radially unstable.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%