Diamagnetic Pyrolytic Graphite Levitation Kit

by Images SI Inc.

Product Features

• Float a small square of pyrolytic graphite above a set of magnets at room temperature! This fascinating form of graphite is one of the few materials that one can easily observe being repelled by a magnetic field.
• A must for all physicists, science enthusiasts and anyone who loves the power of magnets.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3 x 3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000796XSW
• Item model number: LEV-01
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,064 in Industrial & Scientific (See Top 100 in Industrial & Scientific)

Product Description

Magnets affect materials in one of three ways, attraction, non-attraction (neutral) and repulsion. Diamagnetism refers to an objects weak repulsion from an magnetic field. There are no poles connected with diamagnetism. The north pole of a magnet repels the material just as well as the south pole. Just like a north pole of a magnet will attract iron just as well as the south pole. Graphite is diamagnetic. Pyrolytic graphite is 10000X more diamagnet than most common diamagnetic materials such as water. Thin slices of pyrolytic graphite are extremely light and can be made to levitate. The closest thing to a perfect diamagnetic material is a superconductor however superconductors still require liquid nitrogen to become superconductive. Whereas pyrolytic graphite can levitate at room temperature.

Levitation is achieved by alternating poles to create a strong magnetic field gradient. Because diamagnetic materials are repelled by either pole, we can place the magnets with alternating north and south poles, that stick to one another and create a magnetic gradient that centers the pyrolytic graphite material. The magnets are positioned properly on a thin piece of sheet steel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good setup, March 22, 2011

By 

H. Nesse - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Diamagnetic Pyrolytic Graphite Levitation Kit

This is a good kit for a demo of diamagnetism. The chip of pyrolytic graphite is fairly small. If all you need is the carbon, this kit would be well overpriced. However the magnets needed for levitation have to be fairly powerful. The magnets which come with the set are quite nice.