Can a magnet be made to PUSH metal?

[Tauri]

Hello. I need to know if there is ANY way that a magnet can be made to PUSH metal away, instead of attracting it. Thanks.

[YT2095]

if you pass an electrical current through the metal, then yes it can

[insane_alien]

or if you have a metal that has a greater diamagnetic effect than ferromagnetic.

[Tauri]

ok... im not really a science geek, so i dont know what u meant in the last post. And in the first response, do u mean metal or magnet?

[insane_alien]

if something is diamagnetic it repels magnetic fields. if it is ferromagnetic it attracts magnetic fields. ferromagnetism is the usual kind of magnetism that you see in fridge magnets.

 

have a look on youtube for 'superconductor levitation' that will give you examples of superdiamagetism which is similar.

[Tauri]

Ok so if i get a magnet from a harddrive, and an object which has a stronger diamagnetic force than ferromagnetic (err...) force, i could push it away?

[YT2095]

if you pass a DC current through Any conducting material with sufficient power a magnet will repel when placed in the right position.

 

that`s how Speakers and moving coil meters work

[insane_alien]

Ok so if i get a magnet from a harddrive, and an object which has a stronger diamagnetic force than ferromagnetic (err...) force, i could push it away?

 

well, pyrolytic carbon would work with it but thats about it. it takes about 10T to levitate a frog using this effect.

[Tauri]

well... where would i get some pyrolytic carbon?

[insane_alien]

not so sure on that, i've never needed it before.

[Rocket Man]

if you can hold lots of carbon dioxide at a few thousand degrees celcius for a few days you can flake a tiny bit off the bottom of the container.

having said that, you can see why it's hard to find and costs a lot.

 

bizmuth works too, it's just way less cool. unless you chill it (superconducts in liquid nitrogen, not very well though).

bizmuth can be levitated above a suitably strong magnetic field, those magnets from a hard drive might work but you'll need a tiny flake of the bizmuth.

i think you can buy it as shot, get one pellet and hammer it flat.

[shadowacct]

http://www.emovendo.net/magnet/pyrolytic-graphite-block.html

http://www.emovendo.net/magnet/bismuth-metal-balls-9999-17-ozs.html

[John Cuthber]

The point is that yes a magnet can push metal, but only if it's the right metal.

As a matter of fact, magnets push water but not very hard.

[alan2here]

well... where would i get some pyrolytic carbon?

 

That link on the post before last (TY Shadowacct)

EBay (Set up a google allert to help you)

If you live in the USA then http://sci-toys.com/index.html

 

It seems to more commonly be known as "pyrolytic graphite"

 

It's rather pricey and you need to be into magnets esspecally NIB (Neodymium Iron Boron) magnets to appreciate it, if you have no NIB magnets then you will likely not be able to do anything with it and if you are new to magnets then you will likely get frustrated before you can do anything good with it. It also only works in one direction.

 

Bistmuth is cheaper and works in all directions but is weaker.

 

Water is also as already mentioned very slightly diamagnetic (works best as ice cubes) but you need carefully constructed rigs to really be able to tell. (Just using really large powerful magnets and trying to arrange things by hand doesn't work)