Magnetic gyroscope levitation

I got this online, a set with a few magnets and a weight-adjustable gyro. It’s an impressive demo of a spin-stabilized magnetic levitation. A magnet is levitated via magnetic forces above another magnet, and stabilised by gyroscopic effect due to a spin that is neither too fast, nor too slow. As said, getting it to work requires some practice, but the effect is well worth the effort.

Phenomenon 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 magnetic top, however, because the non-static nature of the spinning top acts as a gyroscope to prevent its toroidal magnetic field from aligning itself in the same direction as that of the primary field of the magnetic base (i.e.: 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 about 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. The physics of the magnetic stability is similar to magnetic gradient traps.

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