Levitating Magnets

•Two small sticks (4-6" long, 1/4-1/2 inch square)

   or two dowels.  Size is not critical.

• Block of wood (4" long--width and depth do not matter)

• Kite string or strong thread or fishing line

• Two small neodymium magnets

• Glue or glue gun

• Various thin materials

Directions. (Download a print version at HOME EXPLORATIONS- LEVITATING MAGNETS (PRINT) PDF.PDF )

1)    Glue two small sticks on a wooden base as shown in the picture.  You can use hot glue, white glue, or even nail or screw the wood together.

2)   Glue a thread or string to each of the two small neodymium magnets provided.

3)   As shown in the picture, glue one thread to the upright stick.  It does not matter where it is glued, but we decided to place it in the middle.

4)   Now place the other magnet and string on the other stick and glue so that the magnets do not touch, but where they attract one another so they stay levitated.

Extensions

Neodymium magnets are stronger that iron or ceramic types. They contain a rare earth called neodymium, iron and boron. They are widely used in many types of technology because they have strong magnetism yet are very small in size.

Various websites explain magnet theory:  

Overview of magnets:  https://www.kjmagnetics.com/blog.asp?p=magnet-basics

About Neodymium magnets:  https://www.first4magnets.com/tech-centre-i61/information-and-articles-i70/neodymium-magnet-information-i82/what-are-neodymium-magnets-i93

Video of Experiment.