- #1
Saketh
- 261
- 2
Here's the situation:
We have a ruler, inclined slightly with a strong ceramic magnet at the end. Now, we put two identical ferromagnetic (steel, for example) balls on the top of the ramp, touching each other. We let the balls roll down the ramp, and, perhaps against intuition, the balls stop before touching the magnet.
I'm trying to figure out why this is, but I am not sure what's causing the forces in the end. Are the induced magnetic fields polarizing the balls in a certain way? I have a grasp of what's going on, but the conceptual details are escaping me.
Thanks in advance.
We have a ruler, inclined slightly with a strong ceramic magnet at the end. Now, we put two identical ferromagnetic (steel, for example) balls on the top of the ramp, touching each other. We let the balls roll down the ramp, and, perhaps against intuition, the balls stop before touching the magnet.
I'm trying to figure out why this is, but I am not sure what's causing the forces in the end. Are the induced magnetic fields polarizing the balls in a certain way? I have a grasp of what's going on, but the conceptual details are escaping me.
Thanks in advance.