Observing Magnetic Dampening
Magnetic damping can be observed easily due to the development of strong magnets made of neodymium and other rare earth metals. To observe magnetic damping with a minimum of materials and effort, use any length of copper tubing and a neodymium magnet with a smaller diameter than the tube. Ideally the neodymium magnet will have a diameter only slightly smaller than the tube to maximize the magnetic field. Hold the tube vertically and drop the magnet through it to see magnetic damping at work.
Dropping a chained line of these magnets through the copper tube shows magnetic damping, however connecting the magnets in a ring before dropping them shows minimal magnetic damping. This is due to the collapse of the magnetic field as the north and south poles of the chained magnet are connected.
Read more about this topic: Magnetic Damping
Famous quotes containing the words observing and/or magnetic:
“We were observing once to Mr. [Samuel] Crisp that the good and the agreeable were seldom united—”Ay begad,” cried he, “’tis rare enough to meet with the one or the other.””
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)