Stable Levitation of Dia- or Paramagnetic Substances by Magneto-Archimedes Levitation

Abstract

We succeeded in making water levitate in air, using not an extreme by strong magnet such as a Bitter - type hybrid magnet, but a compact superconducting magnet. The levitated water ball had a spherical shape and levitated stably for over a day. We named this phenomenon “magneto - Archimedes levitation,” because, to achieve it, we used gravitational and magnetic buoyancy forces in the presence of pressurized oxygen gas. In addition, our method enables paramagnetic substances to levitate in air, which has been considered to be impossible owing to the Maxwell relation, divB = 0. We also succeeded in making paramagnetic aqueous copper sulfate levitate in air. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of stable levitation of paramagnetic substances in the atmosphere.