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Re: falling magnet demo



I believe the problem may be related to the thickness of the copper
surrounding the tube. The more current loops, the better. A very nifty
demonstration is to use the little rare earth element magnets that are
sold at Roadio Shack or Pasco and drop them down the tube. You can watch
them as the move gracefully down the pipe at constant speed.

On Mon, 10 Mar 1997, JFDWG wrote:

I tried a classic demonstration of dropping a magnet through a copper
tube at the same time as dropping an unmagnetized bar. They both
landed at the same time.
Since one possible explanation was that the magnet's speed was not
great enough, I set a pvc tube on top of the copper tube so that
the magnet would have a significant speed when it reached the copper.
Still, they both fell with normal acceleration.
Can anyone explain why the magnet was not slowed when falling through
the 50 cm long copper pipe?
Thanks,
Don Greenberg




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T.K. McCarthy Email:mcca6300@spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov