best of luck doing that

Did you use "MAGNET WIRE"? Regular, bare 28 AWG copper won't work; it must be magnet wire.

120 VAC / 60 Hz, 200 turns 28 AWG magnet wire, 6 inch diameter coil.

He's using 120 VAC / 60 Hz, thus the polarity is already reversing at 60 Hz.

i wanted to say that :(

Thanks for your concern. I was careful to not touch anything grounded at the same time it was plugged in, although it was on a GFCI outlet. Indeed for maximum safety, I could use rubber gloves and an isolation transformer, but I've always been more concerned about potential arcing between the two thin wires leading to the coil. Safety glasses! Gotta watch out for molten blobs of copper.

Benoit Faure as the coil goes over the gap between the plates and is more on one side than the other, the eddy currents it makes in the metal are made in a larger area and so are stronger. this means the plate is more repelled by the side it is over, and will be pushed back to be half over the gap. like a ball in a hemisphere.

30awg*

+The Computer Tech Guy It shouldn't matter. I don't recommend putting line voltage through 32 AWG though, try stepping the voltage up and the current down with a transformer. It is possible but it might take a bit of tinkering

Depends on the wood.

Only with AC. DC will not induce any current in the aluminum plate(s), so no magnetic repulsion.

Not sure. After making this video, I tried using an audio amplifier to see how it would act with higher frequencies, but it only put out 70 V peak, whereas the mains gives it 170 V peak. No levitation. I would need a higher power amp.

Matt Perkins I mean there must be some sort of resistor in the circuit. Thanks again.

Matt Perkins The length of wire in the circuit provides the only resistance. It is connected straight to mains 120 VAC. It gets hot quickly so I can only leave it on for 5 to 10 seconds. All current flows between Line and Neutral. A GFCI would only trip if current flows to Earth Ground. To be 100% safe, it should NOT be done the way I have done it here. The coil should be powered through a GFCI or an isolation transformer. You should also include a fuse in series with the coil, and wear safety glasses to protect against flying beads of molten copper if the two ends of the coil short together. The wire's insulation is very thin. The two wires leading up two the coil should have thicker insulation than the magnet wire I used here. The coil should be handled with rubber gloves or an insulating stick. Be safe. Have fun. Also, to get better levitation results, a thick slab of copper would be better than aluminum since copper is more conductive.

+Eric Wasatonic What's the length and the section of the wire? And what is ti made of?

My students have built 2 of these very successfully over the past semester. They hooked a rheostat up to control how high it floated. The length was around 100' of light gage wire.

And thanks eric.

+Jay Ridge More than 10 years ago, I did tried some experiments to levitate an aluminum plate over a various coils with various iron cores. The iron was necessary to get much higher magnetic field density. The plate was easily lifted up, but I was unable to make it stable. It is possible, though. It's just a matter of time to construct the proper apparatus.

I have the same problem, I use a construction of 4 Coils in U-Cores, that ar connected in the middle, so that you have a sort of cross with a big north pole in the middle and south poles on the ends, if viewed from the top. My plate also hovered away, but it's maybe due to the fact, that it's to small, so I ordered a sligthly bigger on and I soon will find out, if it works. But you said it's definitely possible to make it stable. Do you have any advices for me for a proper construction?

@@robinwersich3424 I know how to make the aluminum disk stable ... You must make them rotate, that is the answer. When you make the change let me know the results

@@Anonimousxz I got it to work without rotation - the key was to have a plate (mine was made of aluminum) that is round and only slightly bigger that the U-core-cross, because you need a significantly big enough increase in the surface that is penetrated by the magnetic field to get the plate to lift up at the side where it is about to slip off, so it is pushed back to the center. If you're interested I can upload the video

@@robinwersich3424 Glad it went right! Send me the video to email: canaldoleigo@gmail.com Hugs!

28 AWG "magnet wire"

There's no simple formula for, although there are computer simulation programs (finite element analysis that includes electromagnetism) that could estimate different cases. It does work better at high frequencies, especially for small-geometry demonstrations. I made an 80KHz levitator with fixed coils and a floating piece of aluminum foil about 30 years ago. Am hoping to make an improved one, which is why I searched for related videos and just found this one. One relation is simple: For a fixed coil position (height), the force is proportional to current squared. Doubling the current in the coil also doubles the current in the aluminum base, so four times the repulsive force. That doesn't translate to four times the height, however, as the fields fall off rapidly with height (separation). For low frequencies, where the aluminum plate(s) are well thinner than the skin depth, force will be linearly proportional to frequency (at constant current). That is because twice the frequency will induce twice the current in the aluminum plate.

+RedLeader 9001 Yes. It needs a very conductive non-ferrous metal. Aluminum is ok. Copper would be better. Thick slabs of silver would be best if money was no object.

The Hover board is not around the corner then ha ha ha

+Eric Wasatonic why do you need a very conductive metal?

+Bryan Camacho To maximize the magnitude of eddy currents in the metal that are induced by the coil's magnetic field.

you can't actually. :P the heat is the effect of this phenomenon

Giorgos Kanenas is it the unused voltage being converted into heat or the magnetic field causing heat?

it's called "eddy currents", and as all currents going through a conductor, they produce heat (joule's law).

Oh... haha you did later in the video... :) cool!

Check my youtube page as this video really interested me as playing with large magnets with ferrofluid and ferrocell these joints at least with magnets arranged in a pattern they use with diamagnetic levitation these joint show a concentration of flux

+fareez jasmi A "real" hoverboard was recently made that just barely floated on a copper surface, using coils and Lenz's law operating at high frequency and with a very short battery life. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mt-HopqQs7y7coE.html&ebc

+pudge Excellent idea! I don't know if I had ever thought of that. Will certainly have to try.

I suspect the doughnut will be unstable. The best levitation will be with the coil centered over the hole, so it will tend to fall off in every direction.

There is current in the aluminum. It is induced by the alternating magnetic field produced by current in the wire.

by idea thee aluminum rejects the magnetic field and causes levitation.

Do you have any other materials to learn?

+Nivaldo Nicoliche How do you get the electricity to make the cars levitate. Oh yeah by burning fossil fuels and releasing CO2. Also this is not new technology it has been around since the early 1800's

+Yextus solar maybe?

+fareez jasmi The power you will need to make a car levitate is very big, so if you want to make it you will need a lot of energy, and with the actual technology we can't make enough renewable energy to levitate all the cars in the world. Even to make that in Europe or a very small country.