NurdRage - 2010-02-28
Diamagnetism is the property of a substance to be repelled by a magnetic field. Interestingly enough, water shows this effect. We build a simple, but very sensitive detector to show this. We also show pyrolytic carbon that is so diamagnetic that it can float above magnets if they are arranged the right way. Water is diamagnetic, meaning it's slightly repelled by a magnetic field. But in everyday life this is almost impossible to notice. We need to build a very sensitive detector to see it. Just get a basin of water and float a styrofoam block in it. Styrofoam is very light and so even the small repulsive force of a test tube of water will have a noticeable push on it. Push the test tube of water into the center of the block and simply hold a strong neodymium magnet as close as possible to the tube without touching it. It's a very small force, but eventually the block will start moving away from the magnet. Pyrolytic graphite, also called pyrolytic carbon, exhibits the same effect and can even be made to levitate on top of a magnet. A single magnet is unstable since the graphite will like to fall off the side. But having four magnets and arranging them like in the video will create a "void" in the center that the graphite "falls" into and remains stably levitated. Some online dealers selling pyrolytic graphite: http://www.kjmagnetics.com/ http://scitoys.com/ http://digikey.com If you know any good sellers, message me.
I love how thorough you are with anticipating questions. That is probably why I like this channel so much.
It's amazing that you're putting up all these videos online. I wish I had all of these when I was in high school. Taught lessons would've been so much more interesting. Could you also incorporate some experiments relating to biological chemistry? Say like chlorophyll or testing for chemicals in blood?
Thanks for responding to my question. Also keep up the good work, I always look forward to watching a new episode and learning more about science and chemistry!!
Excellent video. Takes me back to when I was doing chemistry, I helped design an experiment to measure diamagnetism. We placed a pair of strong magnets with a small separation on a four figure balance and then slid an NMR tube containing the sample down in between then magnets. The change in weight is related to the diamagnetic strength of the material.
to avoid diamagnetic property of glass, why don't try with a little cube of ice? (piece of ice floating on water)
Good Idea but it seems, the molecular orbital of ice is getting narrower than liquid water due to the lower kinetic energy level of lower temperature. so, the electron in ice is moving slowly and would weaken the repulsive effect of water.
@Willy satrio nugroho You forget, ice is less dense than water. It actually has a larger orbital than liquid water... Just saying. Check your facts. There is a reason warm water will freeze in minutes while cold water takes hours... the state of the water actually requires more energy, or larger spacing to transition into a frozen state... Perhaps your explanation/hypothesis needs review? Cheers, B
@Mundy Morning Report That's really good thing to consider. I was too focused on "a water molecule behavior" and neglect some important facts when it form water molecules. Thank you to remind me.
@Mundy Morning Report Wow, I didn‘t know that before. I only knew that somehow water expands as it freezes. Awesome!
Great video! I tried to test the diamagnetic effect but with a different detector: a balanced balsa stick, suspended by a string and holding two filled syringes of water, each in one arm of course, thus making it possible not only to prove diamagnetic effect, but also I managed to take a big dense book and it attracted the water by gravity =) Next time I make that I'll grab some powerful lasers to test the pressure of light =) (Subscribed man; good video!)
Very cool video. How do you make sure that electric charge from static buildup is not causing the repulsion? Static on Styrofoam is notoriously difficult to control.
Great experiment and explained aloud .this was very informative thanks!
In your video you say that a superconductor would be a perfect diamagnet. I think that for a comparison of how large the effect will be in a superconductor compared to water or the graphite it would be awesome to see you make one. I heard that yttrium barium copper oxide or the 1,2,3-superconductor is actually quite easy to make and works with liquid nitrogen temperatures, which you have acces to. So could you make one:). Thanks in advance
so does this mean that water on earth would wiegh slightly less because of the earths magnetic field?
To get a force from magnetism you need a gradient of magnetic intensity. The gradient of Earth's magnetic field is very weak, so the force of this field on water would be very difficult to measure.
It means the water on earth would repell from the center of a supposed ball...
That technic is thought in armies in order to detect directions in critical conditions of detections directions .. due eath magnetic field only
great vids... love all of them. Learning is fun, knowledge is power.
Your videos are awesome man! Good explanations.
This is a very sensibly made and explained video, a pearl amongst the thorns of the usual you-tube trash. Thank you.
Could you do the MO(molecular orbital) diagram for H20 and compare it with the MO diagram for pyrolytic carbon? Or could you just discuss what causes the pyrolytic carbon has a larger magnitude of diamagnetism?
The most funny thing about most of the comments here is that, despite the correct explanation in the video, people have made up their own minds (incorrectly) on what they think is driving the effect shown in the video. An interesting psychological result, I think. =)
+Erik People dont like to see things that go against what they already believe to be true.
+Erik Eureka! A breakthrough! For chemistry... AND Psychology! ^-^
+newdefsys their response should be a video to actually show us.. so far its just words with no sound science explained.
Captain Morgan lol captain morgan. we're in 17th century
I'm in grade 7 and I am unschooled and your videos definitely contribute to my education. Thank you.
@nurdrage, ive been watching your clips with great interest for quite a while now and enjoy them. however, given my dislike of the system, i have to ask: have you discovered/created anything yourself?
I can't remember the experiment completely, but when I was in high school, my Chemistry teach demonstrated the diamagnetic properties of water by taking a glass rod i think it was, charging it with static electricity by using a piece of fabric, and then placing it next to a stream of water coming out of the faucet. If you looked carefully you were able to see the water bend away from the glass rod. It was quite entertaining!
If you had a maganet strong enough, could you levitate water? What would that even look like?
This is a bit late, but you certainly can. In fact, there is a video online of a frog being levitated in an extremely strong magnetic field.
Water vapor gets levitated by Earth's magnetic field.
@John Walker really?
@Yasyas Marangoz Water vapor is chemical 'groups' with a charge.
Diamagnetic effects depend on the fact that all atoms have electrons in "orbit" about their nuclei. Both the electrons individually and the nuclei have their own spin states and a composite spin state. The spin states will oppose the external magnetic field if the material is diamagnetic or support the field if they are ferromagnetic (much simplified, see ferrimagnetism and spin/orbital magnetism if you don't mind mental confusion :P). Any degree of diamagnetism and ferromagnetism can occur. That's how you get Bismuth & Graphene (aka Pyrolitic Graphite), two really neat diamagnetic materials, and NdFeB super magnets at the ferromagnetic end. Everything else falls in between. Magnetic Frog Levitation, anyone?
This is an incredible video, brah! Can you make a video on efforts to make pyrolytic carbon/graphite transparent? Or possible unanchored suspended parafluid? Or transparent pyrolytic carbon IN a parafluid?! If you could make any video like this it woudl seriously blow my mind and I would be SUPER THANKFUL and try and return the favor.
I can't stop watching your videos!!! They are so interesting and I'm learning so much!!
I have conducted similar experiments using a high voltage corona. What I have found is that diamagnetic materials attract along the length of the wire but they repel at the ends of the wire, this video has given me some more ideas. Thank you.
so it is true, magnets effect water. magnets effect body fluids and all of that
@NurdRage I've seen a documentary about this with the levitating fog (Wierd Connections is great) and was very interested, so wouldn't this mean the stronger the magnet is, the greater the diamagnetic force? So if the magnet was powerful enough in a hypothetical world the water has the capability to levitate as such? If so, would this mean it is possible to do the same for human beings? And if that is possible would there be any harm from exposure to such high magnetic fields?
cool video, I loved the diamagnetism effect the carbon had, the levitation effect made this video into pure awesome
Wound up here on a personal hunt for how the tides work. I've gotta say that this is very interesting! From what I can tell so far, the water is affected by temperature causing a small expanding and retracting due to the molecules moving faster or slower. I also believe that the sun and Moon have magnetic significance because of the rotation around our central N pole. Now I need to investigate the effects of direct sunlight vs direct moonlight on salt and fresh water. Gravity is only a theory and is irrelevant. I want the true reasons for the predictable water movement! Thanks for the video!
it's amazing how magnetism can almost affect anything. most people believe it only effects metals but it doesn't. any object that is effected by it will either be paramagnetic or diamagnetic. and then some are non-magnetic. but this here is pretty cool
+NurdRage ;Wow! This was so cool, for me.
I heard something, not long ago,; the difference between a dumb person, and a smart one?
The dumb person thinks they know all there is to know. The smart person knows; one never stops learning.
That's me, and, I think a lot of others, who love stuff like this.
I don't play video games, but, I read voraciously, and, one thing the internet's done, is it's let me go off on so many tangents - utterly unrelated things, and it's just such a thing, which - happily - led me here.
Thanks for this video, I'm hooked, and subscribed.
me too
how does this differ to ocean water?.. how can you increase the "repelling" effect? this is great science.. all your videos are just amazing.
Hey there! Is there any way I could create a strong electromagnetic field enough to repel water with considerable force?
Thanks, best example for diamagnetism I found so far.
@happyguy82 to some extent, the principles that make this effect work also work for MRI scanners, but applied in a different way obviously. The water being diamagnetic allows the MRI scanner to probe the protons (the nucleus) of the hydrogen in water and get their distribution in the body, with enough data an image can be constructed. The MRI doesn't use repulsion exactly... but it does use the diamagnetism, a property of which is repulsion.
I expected that voice to instruct me on where to leave the ransom.
Can the diamagnetism properties be extracted from the water? Just wondering =)
Wow, very interesting, I have subscribed a's I am a premed student and find all chemistry related info informative. Thanks again and look forward to watching the rest of your videos!!
Great video, thank you! You, a diamagnetic carbon life form, are zooming 800-900mph right now. through earth's non-moving magnetic field. We are tiny microbes living in an imense DYNAMO.
Perfectly brilliant. Love it
fucking magic, i knew you were a wizard
Very interesting. So does dissolving salt or other materials in the water alter the diamagnetic properties?
Try placing the tub on two blocks so there is a few inched under the tub to work with. Place an array like the one at 2:30 on a ruler with some tape that is short enough to slide around under the tub. Use a shallow fill of water. Now slide the ruler under the water. If all goes well, there should be some quite visible ripples in the water.
I was going to ask for you to try using just the glass tube so that we can see the difference in repulsion, or for you to put the water in a length of soda straw. But an ice cube (as was suggested below) might be a better self contained isolation of water from container solution.
So since we were mostly water, would we levitate over a magnetar or would the gravity win out? No "weak spots" in the field, though...
This is how they levitated a frog
@Sophesumer I know that is a very hard question because of the many forms of carbon, but maybe the graphite particles responsible for the levitation can be dissolved in a certain solvent where the 'normal' graphite cannot? I have no idea, just brainstorming. PS: I really look forward to superconductors at room temperature, and hope someone finds the breakthrough when I'm still alive. Also look forward to what new materials carbonnanotubes will bring, once we can 'grow' them at industrial levels.
hi i dont think i have watched all of your videos yet, because i just stumbled along them a couple days ago, but i was wondering if you had any videos of that magnetic, black, liquid stuff? if not could you make one some day? Thanks, Kaylor
What happens with distilled water? Curious if the mineral content changes the diamagnetism.
Would it be practical to create an oscillating engine (or electrical generator) out of magnets? Or would the effort used to create the magnets be worth significantly less than its potential electrical output?
I had no idea that Jigsaw was such a science geek.
lel
Mister Cyanide - 2015-03-13
You should have used a large ice cube for the test for water magnetism. That way, you can eliminate any effect caused by the diamagnetism of the glass.
cjhindma - 2015-08-27
Is there any known reason that would cause inaccurate results from this ice cube suggestion? I think thats a great idea, and simple too.
Decrosion - 2018-02-24
Bad idea ice melting cause movement