LEVITRON

CONCEPT

PRESENTED BY
FATIMA RUBAB

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

CONTENTS

• Levitation
• Types of levitation
• Levitron
• Applications of Levitron
LEVITATION

• (from Latin levitas "lightness") is the process by which an object is held aloft, without

mechanical support, in a stable position.
• Levitation is accomplished by providing an upward force that counteracts the pull of 
gravity (in relation to gravity on earth), plus a smaller stabilizing force that pushes the
object toward a home position whenever it is a small distance away from that home
position. The force can be a fundamental force such as magnetic or electrostatic, or it
can be a reactive force such as optical, buoyant, aerodynamic, or hydrodynamic.
• Levitation excludes floating at the surface of a liquid because the liquid provides
direct mechanical support. Levitation excludes hovering flight by insects,
hummingbirds, helicopters, rockets, and balloons because the object provides its own
counter-gravity force.
PHYSICS OF LEVITATION

• Levitation (on Earth or any planetoid) requires an upward force that cancels out the weight of the object,
so that the object does not fall (accelerate downward) or rise (accelerate upward). For positional stability,
any small displacement of the levitating object must result in a small change in force in the opposite
direction. The small changes in force can be accomplished by gradient field(s) or by active regulation. If
the object is disturbed, it might oscillate around its final position, but its motion eventually decreases to
zero due to damping effects. (In a turbulent flow, the object might oscillate indefinitely.)
• Levitation techniques are useful tools in physics research. For example, levitation methods are useful for
high-temperature melt property studies because they eliminate the problem of reaction with containers
and allow deep undercooling of melts. The containerless conditions may be obtained by opposing gravity
with a levitation force instead of allowing an entire experiment to freefall.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEVITATION

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

 MAGNETIC LEVITATION
• Magnetic levitation is the most commonly seen and used form
of levitation.
• Magnetic levitation,maglev or magnetic suspension is a
method by which an object is suspended above another object
with no support other than magnetic field.
• The electromagnetic force is used to counteract the effect of
gravitational force.
• Diamagnetic materials are commonly used for demonstration purposes. In this
case the returning force appears from the interaction with the screening currents.
For example, a superconducting sample, which can be considered either as a
perfect diamagnet or an ideally hard superconductor, easily levitates in an ambient
external magnetic field. The superconductor is first heated strongly, then cooled
with liquid nitrogen to levitate on top of a diamagnet. In a very strong magnetic
field by means of diamagnetic levitation, even small live animals have been
levitated.

a high-temperature superconductor levitating above

magnet
• Magnetic levitation is in development for use for transportation systems. For
example, the Maglev includes trains that are levitated by a large number of
magnets. Due to the lack of friction on the guide rails, they are faster, quieter, and
smoother than wheeled mass transit systems.
• Electrodynamic suspension uses AC magnetic fields.

A magnetically levitated (maglev) train departing 

Shanghai Pudong International Airport on the first
commercial high-speed maglev line in the world.
ELECTROSTATIC LEVITATION
• In electrostatic levitation an electric field is used to counteract gravitational
force. Some spiders shoot silk into the air to ride Earth's electric field.

Sample of a titanium-zirconium-nickel alloy inside the

Electrostatic Levitator vacuum chamber at NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center.
AERODYNAMIC LEVITATION

• In aerodynamic levitation, the levitation is achieved by floating the object on a stream of gas, either produced
by the object or acting on the object. For example, a ping pong ball can be levitated with the stream of air from
a vacuum cleaner set on "blow". With enough thrust, very large objects can be levitated using this method.
• Application
• Gas film levitation
• This technique enables the levitation of an object against gravitational force by floating it on a thin gas film
formed by gas flow through a porous membrane. Using this technique, high temperature melts can be kept
clean from contamination and be supercooled.A common example in general usage includes air hockey, where
the puck is lifted by a thin layer of air. Hovercraft also use this technique, producing a large region of high-
pressure air underneath them.
Aerodynamic levitation of objects can be also a nice effect in
party locations. Here a light ball flies in an air stream generated
by a ventilator in the square box
 OPTICAL LEVITATION
• Optical levitation is a technique in which a material is levitated against the
downward force of gravity by an upward force stemming from photon 
momentum transfer (radiation pressure).

Dielectric objects are attracted to the center of the beam,

slightly above the beam waist, as described in the text. The
force applied on the object depends linearly on its displacement
from the trap center just as with a simple spring system. It is a
restoring force.
 ACOUSTIC LEVITATION
• Acoustic levitation uses sound waves to provide a levitating force

A Langevin horn type standing wave acoustic levitator

at the Argonne National Laboratory
BUOYANT LEVITATION

• Gases at high pressure can have a density exceeding that of some solids.
Thus they can be used to levitate solid objects through buoyancy. 
Noble gases are preferred for their non-reactivity. Xenon is the densest non-
radioactive noble gas, at 5.894g/L. Xenon has been used to levitate 
polyethylene, at a pressure of 154atm.
INVENTION AND PATENTS

• The first spin-stabilized permanent magnet levitation device was invented (c 1976) and patented (1983) by
inventor Roy Harrigan, of Vermont. In the mid-1990s, Seattle entrepreneur Bill Hones, who was himself
exploring the possibility of permanent magnet levitation, discovered Harrigan's patent. Hones subsequently
contacted Harrigan and later met with him. Upon Hones' request, Harrigan permitted him to borrow his
prototype with the understanding that they were entering into a business arrangement. Hones, with the help of
his father, a Physicist and employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory, analyzed the physics of the prototype,
and then filed for an "improvement patent". In 1984, independent of Roy Harrigan, inventor Joseph Chieffo, of
Pennsylvania, also discovered spin-stabilized magnetic levitation. Chieffo then developed his own 
spin-stabilized magnetic levitation device and attempted to obtain a patent thereon. Employing an attorney to
conduct a U.S. Patent and Trademark records search, Chieffo was informed of the existence of the Harrigan
patent; he thus concluded his efforts to secure a patent.
• In a final assessment, Chieffo's attorney noted that his device, although apparently
unpatentable, could be marketed without infringing upon the Harrigan patent. In 1988,
Chieffo marketed his device in kit form. Contrasting with the dished supporting magnet
of the Harrigan invention, the base magnet of this latter device was rectangular and
planar of upper surface, not unlike the base magnet of Hones' later-patented device, the
now-popular Physics toy known as the Levitron.
• In 2012  and 2014,Levitrons were operated at an angle of 45° as well as with their spin
axis horizontal. This inclined and horizontal operation was obtained with the help of
additional magnetic “V”s. The horizontal Levitron is particularly stable which gives it
educational potential.
 SPIN-STABILIZED MAGNETIC LEVITATION
• Spin-stabilized magnetic levitation is a phenomenon of magnetic levitation whereby a spinning magnet or
array of magnets is levitated via magnetic forces above another magnet or array of magnets, and stabilized
by gyroscopic effect due to a spin that is neither too fast, nor too slow to allow for a necessary precession.
• The phenomenon was originally discovered through invention by Vermont inventor Roy M. Harrigan in the
1970s. On May 3, 1983 Harrigan received a United States patent for his original levitation device based
upon this phenomenon he discovered .Independent of Harrigan, a Pennsylvanian inventor named Joseph
Chieffo made the same discovery in 1984 employing a flat base magnet, a geometry that proved a
significant advance over his predecessor's dished-base design. Chieffo's design, publicized in a 1991 edition
of the periodical "MAGNETS IN YOUR FUTURE", further differed from Harrigan's in its incorporation of
an un-weighted top. Harrigan's technology, either entirely or in conjunction with Chieffo's flat-base
innovation, provided the basis for the development of a mass marketed levitating toy top sold under the
brand name, 'Levitron'.
• ).
LEVITRON

• Levitron is a brand of levitating toys and gifts

in science and educational markets marketed by
Creative Gifts Inc. and Fascination Toys &
Gifts. The Levitron top device is a commercial
toy under this brand that displays the
phenomenon known as 
spin-stabilized magnetic levitation. This
method, with moving permanent magnets, is
quite distinct from other versions which use
changing electromagnetic fields, levitating
various items such as a rotating world globe,
model space shuttle or VW Beetle, and picture
frame.750,000 units were sold from 1994
through 1999.
 DESCRIPTION OF LEVITRON
1. Spinner (Top) – nonmagnetic spindle inserted in a flat,
toroidal, permanent magnet (Ceramic)
2. Base – relatively large toroidal ceramic permanent
magnet.
3. Plastic lifter plate

Magnetic Base

Between Base and Top acts dipole-dipole repulsion

force
Magnetic Top levitates above the Base due to gradient of
base magnetic field.
PHYSICS OF LEVITRON
Qualitative analysis
For the stable levitation two conditions must be satisfied:
a) Top's weight must be balanced by magnetic Repulsion force
b) In the levitation point potential energy must have minimum.

Ordinary spinner precesses around vertical

gravitational field lines.

Magnetic top precesses around local magnetic field lines

(which in different points have different directions).

Due to gyroscopic effect top's precession axis always tries to be

aligned on average to the direction of local magnetic field line.

At radial excursion top's precession axis tries to "reorient" to

magnetic field local line direction.

Reorientation energy of precession axis creates the

potential well.
 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS; BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
For our further investigation let us make such assumptions:
a)
In the magnetic field of base there are no currents and magnetic charges, i.e. Maxwell
equations take the form:

• Gauss law for magnetic field: – magnetic charge does not exist;

• Amper's law: - electrical current and electric field variation create magnetic
field. Since on our case there are no electric currents and electric field

b)

• Top is Magnetic Dipole and its magnetic dipole centre coincides with Mass centre ;

• Top is „Fast“, precession angle is small - the angular momentum is along the spin
axis of the top which also coincides with the magnetic moment axis;
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS; POTENTIAL ENERGY OF MAGNETIC SPINNER

The force exerted by the magnetic field on a dipole of moment in air or vacuum depends on the directed gradient of the field
(Сивухин. т.3, стр.243):

(1)

The potential energy of the top (since in average )

(2)

Representing as a Taylor series in the vicinity of levitating point and taking into account Maxwell equations we get:

(3)

Where

In this approximation the potential energy of top is: [1,2]

(4)
Let us investigate this expression:

(4)

a) In the levitating point must be energy extremum: .

Gradient of base magnetic field balances gravitational force (Equilibrium condition):

(5a)

b) For stable equilibrium energy must have minimum: .

i.e. coefficients of z2 and r2 must be positive (Stability condition):

; (5b)

(5c)

represents the energy required to reorient the top’s axis from vertical to the local field direction.
 TOP SPIN FREQUENCY UPPER LIMIT

Trapping conditions set a restriction on the top spin frequency upper limit: [1]

The top spin frequency must be less than this value, to have the levitation.

If the top is "too fast", the precession frequency will be too slow to allow the top to reorient to
the local field direction as the top makes its radial excursion.
 CALCULATED EQUILIBRIUM AREA

From (8) calculating relevant derivatives and using "Trapping Conditions" (5) we found the "Top Trapping
Range".
For our case it is around 8 cm from the Base magnet.

Trapping Range
WHY IT WORKS

• “The principle is that two similar poles (e.g., two north's)

repel, and two different poles attract, with forces that are
stronger when the poles are closer. There are four magnetic
forces on the top: on its north pole, repulsion from the
base's north and attraction from the base's south, and on its
south pole, attraction from the base's north and repulsion
from the base's south. Because of the way the forces
depend on distance, the north-north repulsion dominates,
and the top is magnetically repelled. It hangs where this
upward repulsion balances the downward force of gravity,
that is, at the point of equilibrium where the total force is
zero.”
 DESCRIPTION OF LEVITRON ACTION (PHENOMENOLOGY)

Video ; video from above ; Slow Motion

• Top rotation speed:
• Top precession speed : ( )
• Top “oscillation” frequency: ( )

• Spin precesses around the local direction of the field and Magnetic moment of Top
effectively on the average points antiparallel to the local magnetic field lines.
• Base magnetic field lines are not vertically directed. Their direction is varying.
SENSITIVITY TO ENVIRONMENT
Top Levitation is influenced by:

• External magnets or magnetized bodies, video

• Iron bodies
Placing the base on thick iron plate changes the shape and value of magnetic field of base.
Equilibrium point is lower while top's mass must be larger.
APPLICATIONS OF LEVITRON
MAGNETI • A magnetic bearing is a type of bearing that supports a
load using magnetic levitation. Magnetic bearings support
C moving parts without physical contact. For instance, they
are able to levitate a rotating shaft and permit relative
BEARING motion with very low friction and no mechanical wear.
Magnetic bearings support the highest speeds of all kinds
of bearing and have no maximum relative speed.
AN ACTIVE MAGNETIC BEARING WORKS ON
THE PRINCIPLE OF 
ELECTROMAGNETIC SUSPENSION BASED ON
THE INDUCTION OF EDDY CURRENTS IN A
ROTATING CONDUCTOR. WHEN AN
ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTING MATERIAL IS
MOVING IN A MAGNETIC FIELD, A CURRENT
 WILL BE GENERATED IN THE MATERIAL THAT
COUNTERS THE CHANGE IN THE MAGNETIC
FIELD (KNOWN AS LENZ'S LAW). THIS
GENERATES A CURRENT THAT WILL RESULT IN
A MAGNETIC FIELD THAT IS ORIENTED
OPPOSITE TO THE ONE FROM THE MAGNET.
THE ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTING MATERIAL
IS THUS ACTING AS A MAGNETIC MIRROR.
LEVITATED DIPOLE
A levitated dipole is a type of nuclear fusion reactor
 
design using a superconducting torus which is 
magnetically levitated inside the reactor chamber. The
name refers to the magnetic dipole that forms within the
reaction chamber, similar to Earth's or Jupiter's 
magnetospheres. It is believed that such an apparatus
could contain plasma more efficiently than other fusion
reactor designs.[1] The concept of the levitated dipole as a 
fusion reactor was first theorized by Akira Hasegawa in
1987.
 MAGNETIC TRAP (ATOMS)
• A magnetic trap is an apparatus which uses a magnetic field gradient to trap neutral
particles with magnetic moments. Although such traps have been employed for many
purposes in physics research, they are best known as the last stage in cooling atoms to
achieve Bose–Einstein condensation. The magnetic trap (as a way of trapping very cold
atoms) was first proposed by David E. Pritchard.
• Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) requires
conditions of very low density and very low
temperature in a gas of atoms. Laser cooling in
a magneto-optical trap (MOT) is typically used
to cool atoms down to the microkelvin range.
However, laser cooling is limited by the
momentum recoils an atom receives from single
photons. Achieving BEC requires cooling the
atoms beyond the limits of laser cooling, which
means the lasers used in the MOT must be
turned off and a new method of trapping
devised. Magnetic traps have been used to hold
very cold atoms, while evaporative cooling has
reduced the temperature of the atoms enough to
reach BEC.
IS THE LEVITRON PRINCIPLE USED
ELSEWHERE?

• IN RECENT DECADES, MICROSCOPIC PARTICLES HAVE BEEN STUDIED BY TRAPPING

THEM WITH MAGNETIC AND/OR ELECTRIC FIELDS. THERE ARE SEVERAL SORTS OF
TRAPS. FOR EXAMPLE, NEUTRONS CAN BE HELD IN A MAGNETIC FIELD GENERATED
BY A SYSTEM OF COILS. NEUTRONS ARE SPINNING MAGNETIC PARTICLES, SO THE
ANALOGY OF SUCH A NEUTRON TRAP WITH THE LEVITRON IS CLOSE.
DISADVANTAGES
THERE ARE A FEW MORE THINGS WORTH NOTING ABOUT THE LEVITRON.  THE FIRST IS
THAT WHEN THE MAGNETS HEAT UP, THE MAGNETIC FIELD DECREASES, AND THE
WEIGHT ON THE TOP NEEDS TO BE ADJUSTED TO ACCOUNT FOR THE CHANGE.  ANOTHER
THING IS THAT WHEN THE TOP STARTS WOBBLING TOO MUCH, THE TORQUE ON THE TOP
WILL OVERCOME THE TOP’S ABILITY TO ADJUST, SO IT’S IMPORTANT TO KEEP
EXTERNAL DISTURBANCES TO A MINIMUM.  THERE ARE BOUNDS ON THE ROTATION
RATE TO ENSURE STABILITY. WHEN THE ANGULAR VELOCITY GETS TOO HIGH, THE TOP
CAN NO LONGER REORIENT ITSELF, AND WE LOSE THE POTENTIAL MINIMUM. WHEN IT
SPINS TOO SLOWLY, THE TOP CAN NO LONGER COUNTER THE TORQUE, AND IT IS PULLED
BACK DOWN TO THE PLATE. THIS LOW FREQUENCY IS CALLED ΩCUTOFF.  IN OUR
EXPERIMENTS WITH THE LEVITRON, WE CALCULATED THAT ΩCUTOFF IS AROUND
19.4RPS.
Thank You