Spin stabilized magnetic levitation

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Spin stabilized magnetic levitation is a phenomenon originally discovered through invention by Vermont inventor Roy M. Harrigan in the late 1970's. He received a patent for his levitation device on May 3, 1983. ^{[1] [2]}

[edit] Physics

Earnshaw's theorem does not allow for a static configuration of permanent magnets to stably levitate another permanent magnet or materials that are paramagnetic or ferromagnetic against gravity. This theorem does not apply to devices consisting of a properly configured magnetic base and corresponding top, however, because the non-static nature of the spinning top acts as a gyroscope to prevent its magnetic field from aligning itself in the same direction as that of the magnetic base (ie: via the top flipping). This gyroscopic property combined with the top's precession allows it to respond dynamically to the direction of the local toroidally shaped field of its base magnet and remain levitating in a central point in space above the base where the forces acting on the top (gravitational, magnetic, and gyroscopic) are in equilibrium thereby allowing the top to rest in an energy minima well. ^[3] (see: magnetic levitation)

[edit] References

1. ^ U.S. Patent 4382245 
2. ^ Theodore Gray. Ignorance = Maglev = Bliss. How2.0. Popular Science. Retrieved on March 26, 2007. “This spinning top, which hovers above a magnetic base, was patented in 1983 by a Vermonter named Roy Harrigan.”
3. ^ Martin D. Simon, UCLA Department of Physics, Lee O. Heflinger, S. L. Ridgway (1997). Spin stabilized magnetic levitation (HTML). American Journal of Physics. Retrieved on December 6, 2006.