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Question:

It it possible to completely levitate a pen magneticly without electronics?

When I say completely, I mean without touching anything execpt the air around it. I‘ve got a floating pen that it connected at the base to the stand, but the rest is just floating out there, and I‘ve seen those ones at Brookstones that don‘t even work. Is there any that is really levitating, and how do they work, are they for sale and where, etc. Also, I‘ve looked into it, and I‘ve heard of a theory of having a whole lot of washers in a pen, sandwiched between layers of plastic, and they have a negative charge facing downwards on the first washer, then positive down on the next, and so on so that no mater which way you turn it the is an equal balanced magnetic force. This would be levitating over a magnetic plate with one polarity facing up, one down, not side to side. This plate is also slightly curved. Does anyone find any flaws with this? Do you think it could be small enough to fit in a regular sized pen? Also, remember that it‘s more about the theory than the pen ;) Thank you.

Answer:

I cook for a living and before I start ANY cutting, I touch up the edge on my favorite knife. When things are really busy, I will touch it up between projects as well. That is normal for a heavy use knife as you are not cutting the same textured items. Make sure you are NOT using a glass cutting board too as those play hell with a good knife and damage the edges as well. Plastic or wood cutting boards only, even if you need to have more than one.
They are very good, but limited in use. You can't use it as a multipurpose knife, only on vegetables and softer things. They are also expensive and easy to break. I don't recommend them for novices or people who live in homes that have a lot of kitchen activity from many different people.
First, you do not need electricity to have a magnet. There are natural minerals in the earth that are mined every day that are naturally magnetic. (Very strongly magnetic) The Brookstone thing, probably magnetic material and centripetal force made the pen float. Kinda how those round tops seem to float over nothing. The circular force keeps it balanced while a powerful natural magnet keeps it up in the air. As for the washer, pen, grade school experiment: Washers are iron, or some kind of composite steel so they will take to any given polarity when put through an electromagnet. If they are magnetized it will stay that way for a while and that experiment works ( i did it in 5th grade). It is merely electrons gaining polarity and the levitation is really just magnetic force overpowering gravity.

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