Dear all, I would like to build a track of NdFeB magnets to demo the Meissner effect of a superconductor, i.e., magnetic levitation. However, I am not so sure how to properly align the magnets. Below I assume a bar magnet with magnetic poles looks like [N S]. Is the following design correct?
[N S][N S][N S][N S][N S][N S][N S][N S][N S][N S]
[S N][S N][S N][S N][S N][S N][S N][S N][S N][S N]
[N S][N S][N S][N S][N S][N S][N S][N S][N S][N S]
What I want is that the superconductor can move on the track and it will not fall off the track.
Many thanks in advance!
Dear Chien-Lung Huang , that is right, and may be you find useful to build a closed loop track. Both open and closed tracks will allow you to show the Meissner effect. Commonly this is demonstrated on the top of the track but if you attach the magnets to a plastic slice or carboard panel, you can show also the Meissner effect holding the superconductor.
Please have a look to the following paper by C. P. Strehlow and M. C. Sullivan:
http://web.csulb.edu/~mmclaugh/LectureDemonstrations/SuperconductorOnMagneticTrack/superconductorOverMagneticTrack.pdf
They also show the final result on a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lmtbLu5nxw
Track design complexity is up to your imagination.
Hope it helps.
Dear Manuel Gómez , many thanks for the information. That helps a lot!! I still have one question though. Based on the paper you showed me , the magnets are arranged in the following way (top view):
SSSSSSS...
NNNNNN...
SSSSSSS...
Would it be difficult to fix the horizontal nearest-neighbor magnets with the same field direction (N-N or S-S)? I will imagine they will repel each other and one magnet tends to flip up side down. Do I fix one column of magnets first by some super glue and add another column (see below)?
S S
N + N +...
S S
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