Spin stabilized magnetic levitation
- Spin stabilized magnetic levitation
Spin stabilized magnetic levitation is a phenomenon of magnetic levitation originally discovered through invention by Vermont inventor Roy M. Harrigan in the late 1970s. He received a United States patent for his levitation device based upon this phenomenon on May 3, 1983.[US patent|4382245] ][cite web|url=http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/be199aa138b84010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html|title=Ignorance = Maglev = Bliss|author=Theodore Gray|accessdate=2007-03-26|publisher=Popular Science|work=How2.0|quote=This spinning top, which hovers above a magnetic base, was patented in 1983 by a Vermonter named Roy Harrigan.] A spin stabilized magnetic levitation device entirely based upon Harrigan's discovery is marketed as a science toy under the trademark brand name, 'Levitron'.] Physics
Earnshaw's theorem does not allow for a static configuration of permanent magnets to stably levitate another permanent magnet or materials that are paramagnetic or ferromagnetic against gravity. This theorem does not apply to devices consisting of a properly configured magnetic base and corresponding top, however, because the non-static nature of the spinning top acts as a gyroscope to prevent its magnetic field from aligning itself in the same direction as that of the magnetic base (ie: via the top flipping). This gyroscopic property combined with the top's precession allows it to respond dynamically to the direction of the local toroidally shaped field of its base magnet and remain levitating in a central point in space above the base where the forces acting on the top (gravitational, magnetic, and gyroscopic) are in equilibrium thereby allowing the top to rest in an energy minima well. [Cite web|url=http://www.physics.ucla.edu/marty/levitron/|title="Spin stabilized magnetic levitation"|accessdate=2006-12-06|publisher=American Journal of Physics|year=1997|author=Martin D. Simon, UCLA Department of Physics, Lee O. Heflinger, S. L. Ridgway|format=HTML] (see: magnetic levitation)]In the laboratory, experimental setups are able to levitate tops for indefinite periods by measuring the spin rate and maintaining it using a drive coil. However, variations in temperature can affect the stability, and without ambient temperature control the top will eventually fall after hours or days due to the temperature coefficient of the magnets.
The physics of the magnetic stability is similar to magnetic gradient traps.
References
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