Where did you get that huge copper pipe? None of the local hardware stores sells pipe larger than 3/4in. That 2 in pipe would be perfect for a project of mine!
It's only 1" diameter, the video must make it look larger. You can get large copper pipes locally though if you look around for plumbing/HVAC supply stores that cater to professionals. It's too bad you can't count on regular hardware stores for that sort of thing.
Note that I have links that can be used to purchase bismuth in the video description. Also, if you leave a comment please be sure your G+ privacy settings are set so I can reply to it. Especially if you ask a detailed question and I don't reply, it's probably because your settings won't allow me to.
FantasmaNaranja, I have good news, lignum vitae wood is VERY resistant to rot, and there are metals (like rhenium and platinum) that just will NOT corrode, (but these metals are expensive.
I saw the Bismuth Levitator video Ernie made in the past. A very good video, but of course your video shined bright due to your excellent camera work & editing, well crafted device, and clearly spoken words. A+
This is inspiring. I've been trying to figure out magnet physics as a idle thought project. but I didn't know about "diamagnetic" properties. this opens up more options to think on
Hello, I am fascinated by the concept of magnetism and this video was a true work of art. I would like to say that these videos really inspire me to go into the field of science when i graduate high school. Keep up the good work!
Hey - Fantastic video!!!! Thank you so much for posting, and for providing so much information. Very thorough yet concise, clear, well researched and your work is stunning in its complexity and aesthetics! 10 out of 10, thank you again!
Well i said that pyrolitic graphite is better because you can run it on a circular track. So he wants to make a track instead of 2 chunks of bismuth which are hard to tune.
I'm leaving a comment because you said that reading them is your favorite thing. Your video turned me on to Bismuth as an element and the idea of diamagentism. It's 2:41 am, and I have work tomorrow, and I'm researching obscure magnetic properties. Damn you, internet. I also want to say that I really appreciated the methodical and patient approach you took to making this, showing us each step and explaining everything along the way. If only every scientist in the world were as thorough.
I recently bought a bismuth Crystal and am hooked on these films on making them and particularly the levitating magnet device, i plan to start making my own very soon.... amazing to watch and mesmerising also
Gaaaaaaaaaaah your house must be the coolest place ever. I would frolic through it, and touch everything. When you pour the bismuth, it looks beautiful.
@beepybeetle. Rather than your 1.9x10^19 years for Bi-209, I would prefer to say "a billion times the current age of the universe itself." Or, expressed as mean average lifetime (which is the half-life divided by 0.693), we would have 2.7x10^19 years, which is to say, "two billion times the current age of the universe." One reason I like bismuth is that it 'forces' the physicist to stop hiding behind the term 'stable', which is applied to the nonradioactive elements and which has a needlessly clinical, bureaucratic, cautious, soulless, antiseptic quality about it, and instead admit that atoms are, for all practical purposes, eternal -- as in "they last for two billion times the current age of the universe -- OR, for those that are not radioactive the way Bi-209 is, even longer than that."
This is amazing! I started out with your how to make bismuth crystals and moved onto your making a tshirt with bleach one. But this one is even more amazing =D Thank you for being curious and creative! The design you made is very beautiful and I'm sure I will be trying this soon (I have access to a metal shop so when I try this out I will send you a video ^.^). Looking forward to your next video.
Very cool! I'm an undergraduate chemistry student interested in inorganic chemistry. I got some bismuth in the mail today and was startled that it's diamagnetism could be so easily observed. Did some googling and stumbled upon your videos. LOVE this project and its aesthetics. I hope to attempt something similar once I get comfortable with the bismuth crystallization. Have you considered doing something on a smaller scale or is the 1/8th inch magnet your limiting reagent? Keep up the good work! Grace
Your project turned out to look so amazing! In the beginning it looked like something you bought only to find out at the end that you made it yourself. You do some cool projects!
Impressive project, but I was disappointed to see that the diamagnetic effect of the bismuth itself was not strong enough to cause the magnet to levitate.
The only "unassisted" diamagnetic levitation I know of is a small ~0.5mm thick piece of pyrolytic graphite, which can be stably levitated about a millimeter above a 2x2 array of neodymium magnets.
***** Well... isnt the ^2 exponential? As in reality there's no such thing as infinitessimaly small so it won't get infinite, but the maths still work.
right i got that wrong thx school was a long time ago :) i was thinking about the surface of a sphere and got to the circumference of a circle basically
Skellborn It's somewhat counterintuitive, but even though ^2 is an exponent, it's not an exponential function. Exponential functions are those in which "e" is raised to a power, notated as e^(x) or exp(x). Exponential functions almost exclusively deal with situations where the present amount of something is a factor, such as population, radioactive decay, or monetary interest.
Mark C. As a note, it does depend what type of field you're dealing with; static fields generated by monopoles (say, from an electron) drop off according to 1/r^2. Fields generated by dipoles (such as magnetic fields) drop off as 1/r^3.
***** Yeah you're right about the exponential function. Maybe exponential has a slightly different meaning in english compared to german, where you can use exponential to describe something "that gets bigger faster and faster"
Id quite like to feature this in a new compilation video I'm working on but I'd like to do it on a bigger scale. Let's say for example with a 1-inch magnetic cube as so far I can only find examples of this with the 1/4 inch. Is it as simple as just scaling everything up or is there some reason nobody has done it with bigger magnets?
If you say double the dimensions then the mass increases according to the dimensional increase cubed . So it's weight would increase eight times which can exceed capabilities of magnetic field pretty quick. Of course electro magnets might be an option but that requires energy consumption .
Very nice! I got a pound of bismuth from amazon, and the first method I used to melt it was with the sun using a large fresnel lens. But more recently I found melting it on the stove as you have is easier for making crystals with, along with being less harmful to the eyes.
Rejuvenated my childlike sense of wonder; wow, hoo-ray, Bismuth is amazing; i have wanted to create a levitating object with magnets; I think I now have the knowledge to do it thanks to you. Your mother should be very proud. Namgalsipsclar!
That was awesome! I am going to have to try that one day when I have the time. Do you think that adding magnets around the cooling metal would affect the crystals?
This seems like a really project that would be fun to watch, but there are some problems in the title that the video claims. I don't know if I'd call this 'indefinite' levitation, as the magnetic properties of the bismuth will eventually decay over time. Also, there is energy being here, but because of the lower friction within the field, the magnet can spin for longer amounts of time. However, this too will eventually stop spinning. The energy, though relatively small, comes from the force of the push that starts the magnet on its way. For this truly to have no energy cost, it would have to have an efficiency of over 100% and the energy would have to come from nowhere, which breaks the second law of thermodynamics. Again, this is a really awesome project that is definitely fun to watch.
This is an amazing demonstration and a wonderful ode to the beauty of the world we live in. Kudos to you, sir. Now to make it even better... Have you thought about creating a vacuum chamber around it so that the magnet will spin indefinitely by removing the air resistance? Then it would also demonstrate conservation of energy... I would really like to see that.
Uh.....Sorry my English is not so well , but I want to ask you how to make the top plate and the bismuth of your final model.... Do you know what I mean ....?
"Reading them is my favorite part of releasing a new video" That's a bloody lie, there are too many assholes in the comment section for it to be enjoyable. Anyways, great video! I think that I might actually do this one. Some of the other tutorials are too complex to do at home.
***** hmmmm. Alright what if then instead we have the outside of the train be an electromagnet and the walls of the train made of bismuth. Pull into station, the train shuts down it's magnet to "land" and everyone can board with no magnetic interference.
Sgt Nomad Quantum locking would be the most efficient way to create a maglev train. Quantum locking would also not require magnetic fields large enough to surround the train so no electronics would be in danger.
That would be extremely expensive and the amount of fuel efficiency gained would not be worth the cost of the resources. However, the concept of using magnetism to lift and propel trains has been implemented (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev). Mag Lev trains can go much faster because they have no friction with the ground, and using electromagnets to propel the train is actually a pretty cost efficient method of transportation.
There is a force acting on that magnet against gravity. there is energy spent in a way or another, and maybe it can last as long as universe itself or even more I don't know about that but it cannot last forever. Perpetual motion is a myth.
When a rock is lying on the ground. The force of the rock on the ground (normal force) is also counteracting gravity. This video just shows two counteracting forces in equilibrium. It's pretty much the same thing. By the way, what do you mean by perpetual motion? As far as I watched the video, the magnet is hanging still. If you are referring to the spinning of the magnet, it will eventually slow due to air resistance.
Perpetual motion was probably not the right term here and yes the ground can also hold something from going down to the center of the Earth due the atoms own electromagnetic field but my point still hold, the magnetic field doesn't come from nowhere nor it can last forever. Something has to be turned into a force strong enough to levitate, it doesn't just happens and last forever. Atoms themselves decay over time. I'm not sure about that but if you measure the mass or a magnet over a very period of time its mass should decrease.
Ummm he stated this in the video. That it would "levitate" over 100 years until the configuration would needed to be adjusted to compensate for magnetic loss.
Yes, magnetic loss will occur due to warmth. A magnet is nothing more than just iron or another ferromagnetic element with atoms that are all pointing in the same direction. Warmth is the movement of atoms (by definition) When the atoms in a magnet move, they start pointing in more random directions. Eventually they point in all directions evenly and therefore there is no magnetic power anymore. If this experiment were performed at 0 K, the magnet would levitate indefinitely.
I love how when you shook the proto-type the magnet flew around like it was attached to string, you should try making a device that shows that in full glory
Damn, looking at the age of some of the comments I may be a day late and a dollar short! I was perusing youtube for something to learn for myself and to dazzle my grandchildren and to stir their curiosity. As a simple man, some of the most beautiful things such as your experiment here are difficult to reproduce for me. I will persevere though. There are young minds to be molded and great things to be shared. Thank you for doing so your self. R🇺🇸
Great! bismuth has been my favorite element for a while. could not get much effect from the diamagnetic property even with my strong 3/4" cube neodymium magnet. going to have to try this some time. you probably know this but might be cool if you just touched the hack sawed surfaces with a blow torch to give them the nice oxidation colors, except the levitation sides of course.
Hi:) this is definitely one of your best! thankyou for making all these abstract masterpieces! they're fantastic gift ideas that are unique and that easily take the spotlight. Thankyou for all that you are..and even though I don't know you, you're one of the best people I know:)
Very cool! You should investigate some crowd funding - I'd certainly buy one. Unlike the wood base, the bismuth creation looks too messy to deal with, but couldn't the crystals just be bought , i.e., why do we have to make them? Anyhow, good luck with it and put me on your mailing list if you ever market these!
Beautiful. Great video man. The first videos I saw made by you were the mortar and other mine. You make a really divers set of videos. Keep up the good work
Whe I was a little boy I used to find Bismuth Cristals from time to time and I always thought it was Silver or some kind of aluminium, but now I know better! Thanks!
This is an awesome project, can't wait to try it. what do you think would be required, what size changes do you think, to be able to increase the size of your spinning magnet. Do you think the bismuth would need to be thicker or a more powerful top magnet?
@Nighthawk very cool project. I was wondering if electrical energy could be produced from the spinning magnet, if copper wire was twisted around it and slip rings were put into place? Or I may not know what I am talking about. Great video as usual :-)
Awsome work Master. I finally see what i tried to achieve when i learned about bismuth properties as a kid realised. Might revisit it someday now that i know it is possible and how to do it. Thanks for the awsome videos :)
Ahhhhhh and infinite energy... there she blows!! XD just look at that perpetual motion guys!!! Wow. I had a dream 6 years ago where I was falling through pillows forever, I realized upon awakening that gravity was a form of endless energy. A few years later I thought about magnetism and how similar it is- and how there is infinate force in it. About this same time videos started appearing all over RU-vid of folks attempting to create "free" energy generators but all were unsuccessful- the problem was as one magnet pulled another it would cancel out its force on the other side. So even with a ring of magnets with one fixed "push" magnet in place they magnets would eventually stop themselves. Tonight I randomly decided to look it up again see if there was any progress. I realized if you could limit or stop magnetism on one side of a magnet you could solve the initial problem- looked up to see if any elements distorted or dampened magnetism and guess what, good old bismuth. One more youtube search brings me here and bingo. Now finally time to build a prototype! I expect others to do the same- chears!
Very interesting! I've been trying to figure out a way to levitate a person in mid air on a platform or something. This just gave me part of the answer. Thank you.
I love that experience, I'm actually trying to reproduce it. Creating good cristals took me an afternoon, and they are still not as good as yours, but i'm satisfied with these. This week, hopefully, I'll finish mine ! I just hope my magnets will be powerfull enough, I bought a lot of them but did not find an as big as your 1". Do you think that a combination of smaller magnets could equal the power of your big one ?
Hey NightHawk. Nice to see such great videos on youtube. I like watching your experiments 'cause they are such an inspiration. Also your vacuum cannon is an amazing invention I think. Best wishes and esteem from Germany. Go on m8e. Show us how it is done.
You and what you do are simply amazing! If you aren't, you should be a teacher; you're real good at it and at keeping subjects fun and interesting which keeps the attention of those to whom you impart your knowledge.
You should sell these. I'd love to make one myself but I don't have the time. I'd definitely buy one though. Could be some absolutely stunning artwork.
Amazing work, mate! Simply inspiring. Kudos from Israel :-) :-) P.S do you suppose neo magnets can be obtained that are made into figurines, or other irregular shapes? Thanks!
