1. We’re Better than Chris Angel
In this project, Frankie and I attempt to do the impossible… alright, I’ll admit, its possible.

2. Mount Materials Materials:
2 blocks of 11 5/16” x 4 15/16” x 5/16” thick ply wood
aluminum plate bent to a 90 degree angle 3 ½” long x 2 7/16” tall x 1 7/16” wide
one pilot drill bit
two different sized drill bits
a screwdriver drill bit
1 DW928 Drill/Driver
#8 screws, 8 x 2-1/2”
a level

3. Mount Construction Procedure
1. Set up see diagram
2. Drill 3 holes 5/16” from bottom edge, 1 ¼” spaced
3. Glue the boards as show in diagram and screw nails in with DW928
4. Screw two pilot holes ¾” from side edge of the aluminum, 1 10/16” apart
5. Drill another pilot hole in the top, ¾” from the side
6. Use vice to hold aluminum plate and expand hole
7. Measure exactly 2 7.5/16” on the standing board from the side and 6 5/16” from sitting board, this will align with your lower hole on the aluminum plate
8. Mark the plate’s position and middle of upper hole
9. Drill the #8 screws into the board through the pilot holes on angle plate to secure to the board and use the level to confirm the aluminum plate is level. See diagram two for a reference of the mount’s final position

4. Experiment Materials 4 Neodymium Magnets (3/16” by 3/8”)
1 Electromagnet (60 ohm coil)
12V DC power supply
Copper Alloy
1/2” of dowel wood
Nesting Doll
Tape
Oz. scale

5. Question
How does changing the material of a .6 oz. object levitated under an electro-magnet affect its performance during levitation over a sixty minute duration?

6. Hypothesis
As we change the material of a .6 oz object being levitated under an electromagnet, then all three of the test subjects will perform the same result or levitate for more than an hour because the electronic board and electromagnet are receiving none-stop power from the landline and no other variables change throughout the experiment.

7. Procedure Set up see diagram
Measure the voltage received at the power support and the power input to ensure it is 12v DC. If not, get a new power supply.
Confirm that all the wires are soldered and in contact correctly with all access points to the electromagnet and electronic board.
With the copper alloy (nickel), tape one magnet to the center of one nickel and attach two magnets to the first with a second nickel in between, adjacent to the first nickel.
Slowly and steadily raise your hand toward the electromagnet with the object held firmly on your middle finger and between your index finger and thumb.
As you get closer to the electromagnet, you’ll feel a pull on the object, do not let go. Wait until you start to feel a repulsion, this means you’re too close. Pull back a bit until you feel a very light pull and a light push, this is your “sweet spot” (note: “sweet spot” may vary according to power supply) at this time, you’re free to let it go as you please.
As you observe the levitation, you will notice the object bouncing up and down toward the electromagnet and the mount beneath it; this is called oscillation, it is bad, this will cause the object to levitate for a short time before falling to the base of the mount. If you’re using any ferrous metal in your object, you will experience a lot of this, to reduce the oscillation, you can use non-ferrous metal in your object, like the copper alloy we suggested or washers that don’t attract to the magnets.
Even with the copper alloy, oscillation in the object will not cease, you must do your best to keep the object steady.
Take notice of the time, Record every minute it remains suspended. If the object falls before any time on your data table, or after, expand your data table as we did for any time below or above your standard measurements. We advise that you leave the object alone for the time it is in the air.
Repeat steps 2-9 with the plastic and the wood, and again for all three test subjects two additional times for your second and third trial.

8. Conclusion
My hypothesis was incorrect. I’d predicted that each object while under the influence of levitation, would levitate for approximately the same time (over one hour) if oscillation was at the minimum. However, in my observations, I noticed that the length of an object affects the oscillation as well. With the plastic object, a film canister, I placed a nickel between the magnets under the lid, but neglected to balance the weight of the bottom of the container. The copper alloy was the shortest in length, it levitated 3 hours and 31 minutes before falling. The wood, or the smallest of a nine-set nesting doll, was the second longest and levitated for 2 hours and 12 minutes before falling. And our shortest levitation time was the plastic object, it remained suspended for 22 seconds before falling. Therefore, my hypothesis was incorrect, the plastic object hadn’t maintained suspension for more than an hour.

9. Potential Changes
However, there are minor changes I could have made or mistakes I may have missed.
We used nickels to reduce oscillation because it was non-ferrous and all we had available at the time, but we didn’t suspect it would interfere with our data. However, we should have used something other then one of the test subjects to suspend the oscillation.
We also could have attempted to change the weight of each object, but we decided not to, because we couldn’t change it as specifically as needed, we found that the only weight it would levitated was rounded to .6 oz. give or take a few .01 ounces, we had no way of measuring that low.
We also could have made the mount of entirely non-ferrous material, the screws we used in the construction were ferrous, as were the nuts and bolts attached to the electromagnet.
We also could have changed the wall outlet we used in the experiment because we noticed some outlets give out more power then others.
We didn’t take into account that the length of the object would have anything to do with the outcome of our experiment. It turns out it did, the longer the object was, the harder it was to control. We suspected this was because the bottom of the object wasn’t being directly suspended by the magnets, while the top was. Our film canister was both long and hollow, we observed the most amount of oscillation from it.

10. Abstract
My Grandfather is one of the only people who have a large influence in my life. His curiosity drove my mind to its extent with science. I got the idea of doing something with levitation from a weekend I’d spent with him, watching the discovery channel, some scientists wrapped a hockey puck in aluminum foil, froze it to absolute zero, and threw it down a rounded track of magnets, the object levitated for a short time, but first made it at least three quarters around the track. I knew freezing an object would be very difficult to do with the resources that are available to me, so I found a substitution for my levitation idea and found this magnetic levitation device on the internet. However, I asked Frankie to be my partner in the experiment because of the cost and he was a good friend and I knew could help get the work done.
Before we could collect any data, we had to build the mount for the magnetic levitation device. After we’d constructed the mount, some of the wires soldered to the electromagnet and the electronic board broke apart so we had to reconnect them, but we neglected to confirm they were on the correct access points. Because of this, we lost a week’s time for collecting information because we had to send the device back to the manufacturer to see what was wrong with it. We’d found out that the wires were reversed and he confirmed it did work after fixing it.

11. Special Thanks
This slide is a personal slide that goes out to nearly everyone for pushing us to do the best we can by doubting our ability to do incredible things. We would like to express our acknowledgement that this will be our last year at Giaudrone and our last year participating in the science fair. Because of that, we would also like to express our gratitude to all of our teachers for encouraging both of us to do our best and exceed at whatever we can. Mrs. Crichton, Mrs. Davidson, and now Mr. Leingang are a huge part of our success with this project. We would also like to throw out the thanks and appreciation to David Quick, Steven’s grandfather for paying so much and giving up his time to assist us in our studies. Each of our parents also played a large role in this year’s project, they each pitched in a helping hand with the display board and applied their curiosity to the experiment itself. Lastly, we would like to challenge the grade levels as they progress their knowledge to do incredible things as we did in our experiment. Our personal goal was to do something better then others, mine ways anyway, I knew that if I’d done something no one else had every thought of, we would be unique in a way nobody would every think of.

12. Magnetic Levitation
Throughout history, millions have only dreamed of levitation. Most thought it only achieved by magic and sleight of hand. Some expected the gods. But very few predicted that science would be the answer in the end.
The proper definition of Magnetic Levitation is a method by which an object is suspended with no support other than magnetic fields. The electromagnet force is used to counter act the effect of the gravitational force. There are many ways to achieve levitation; Mechanical Constraint (Pseudo-Levitation), Direct diamagnetic levitation, Superconductors, Diamagnetically-stabalized levitation, Rotational stabilization, servomechanisms, and many more. We read and confirmed that many active suspension techniques have a fairly thin area of stability, in our experiment we recorded that point at about a half an inch from the bottom of the electromagnet. We also confirmed that magnetic fields have no build-in damping. Causing vibration modes to exist force the object to leave the stable area. We called this oscillation.
While using a superconducting levitation device, many things can be done. If the magnet is brought near a superconductor, the superconductors will repel the object because induced super currents will produce mirror images of each pole. Since the levitating currents in the superconductor meet no resistance, they can adjust almost instantly to compensate for the object’s movement or obscurity. The suspended magnet can be moved, put into oscillation, or spun rapidly and you will observe the levitation currents adjusting to keep the object suspended.
I’ve read articles about scientists in Japan levitating a 142kg sumo wrestler at 186 cm tall standing on a large disk. I was also told that a magnet will repel a piece of metal if separated by a very low temperature liquid, in this case liquid nitrogen, a scientist would place a metal block in a small ceramic dish and pour the liquid over the object and place a magnet above it. The magnet will remain in place until the liquid wares away, or it is forced into position, however, many cool things can be done with it like forcing it into oscillation and spinning it above the object.

13. Examples
I’m sure some of you have heard of a maglev train. The suspension system used with magnetically levitated transit vehicles is amazing, but very expensive. In a diagram, provided below, expresses that the train receives guidance from the tracks on both sides, applying a force on the train preventing it from coming off track, the levitation forces it up, and the propulsion applies force to move it forward.
I also looked into the superconducting method of magnetic levitation. A man built a device with two copper rods spinning at approximately 24mph but at an estimated 5000rpm. Just touching the device would eat your arm up to the shoulder before you can get away. The man put a rounded magnet just between the two rotating rods and it remained suspended above them for a substantial amount of time. He then attempted at oscillating the magnet and spinning it back and forth down the rods. This was actually very amazing and very difficult to get a hold of.
The information I’d given on magnetic levitation with liquid nitrogen is also an example. You’ll also find an example in my abstract, a group of scientists wrapped a hockey puck in tin foil, froze it to absolute zero, and threw it down a track of magnets, the object remained suspended for three quarters of the track.

14. Variables MV: Material of the Object being Levitated
RV: Time of levitation
CV: Weight of the object (.6 oz.)
Neodymium magnets
Electromagnet
Wall outlet (kitchen, lower)
Power Supply (12v DC)
Wind speed (0.0 mph)
Environment (inside)
Person putting the object in position (Frankie)

15. Interesting Facts
If you’re just trying to mess around with the maglev device, you can try spinning the object just before you let it go. This takes practice and patience.
You can prove the object isn’t being supported by carefully running a thin sheet of paper between the top of the object and the bottom of the electromagnet.
We noticed in our observations, that the outlet does matter. While at school, using the outlets in the wall in the science room, we rarely got our objects to levitate for a long period of time. However, when we attempted at home, in the outlet in the wall of our kitchen, the objects levitated far longer then expected. We suspected this is so because there could have been excess power sent to the kitchen because it is made to power major appliances (i.e.: refrigerators, stove/oven, dishwasher).

16. Troubleshooting
Q: Why isn’t my hand feeling the “sweet spot” sensation you describe in the procedure?
A: Confirm that all of the wires are connected to both the electromagnet, electronic board, and power supply correctly. If you’ve done this, your magnets may be reversed. If this is not the problem, very carefully, move the wires that are connected to the electromagnet and see if it makes contact with the antennae. If not, the best way to solve this problem is to solder the wire back to the access point. If this does not work either, contact the distributer of your levitation kit for any information.
Q: How can I keep my mount stable while levitating an object?
A: We found that the best way to do this is to put the mount on a very permanent surface, something like a kitchen counter or science counter. They cannot be moved easily unless deliberately shaken. This will provide you with the best possible stability for your experiment.
Q: What if my aluminum plate isn’t bent to a ninety degree angle? And how would I go about doing that?
A: We used a power saw to cut our aluminum plate, afterwards, we used a vice to hold the bar and bent it to the extent we wished. If your bar is not bent to a ninety degree angle, be sure, when mounting your device on it, that it is almost perfectly positioned vertically, if this is not the case, your magnets will fall backwards. Gravity is buff these days…
Q: Does my aluminum plate have to be aluminum?
A: Yes. The reason we used aluminum is because we had the best resource for it and found it was non-ferrous, working to our advantage, if you used ferrous metal in substitution the magnet will be pulled off track and your experiment will fail.
Q: Is it possible to increase the weight applied to the object or use a different power supply?
A: No. You cannot use different weights, you can modify it to maybe carry a few .01 more ounces, but that is the best you will get. Our objects all weighed .6 oz. As for a power supply, the best you can get is by plugging it directly into the wall. By using an extension cord, you’re distributing the provided electricity to different outlets as well as the one going to the device.
We hope these Q&A’s have answered all of your questions and concerns.

17. Data Table Time Copper Alloy Plastic Wood 10 minutes x 20 minutes
x (3 hr)
X (2 hr 12 min)
<1 minutes
x (22 seconds)