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The physics of diamagnetic levitation

Physics Education 2025-03-24 v2

Abstract

We formulate a problem on diamagnetic levitation, which may be suitable for specialized high-school or first-year students in physical sciences. We guide the students, step-by-step, through the physics of diamagnetic levitation. The calculations are simplified by assuming a ring-shaped geometry of the diamagnetic object residing above a magnetic dipole. This problem was originally intended for the International Physics Olympiad 2016 (IPHO 2016), but was finally deemed surplus and therefore not set.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2101.02160,
  title  = {The physics of diamagnetic levitation},
  author = {Andreas Schilling},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.02160},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Please report crucial mistakes, thank you! v2: A minor typo in Question b) has been fixed