From: Dave
How does the pin move if not confined by the tube? Does it move from the center region and stick to another spot? From: Bob How is the ferrite "conditioned"? Is it magnetized? Have you reproduced this effect? What happens to the hat pin when there is no tube? Soft iron needles easily become magnetized. What is seen in the photo could easily be reproduced with a ferrite magnet slab and an [inadvertently] magnetized pin. Of course, what you described with the levitation happening when the pin is inverted 180 degrees doesn't make sense with that simple explanation - I am asking if you personally verified that the ferrite slab was not permanently magnetized and that flipping the pin still caused it to levitate. Guys, There is no anomaly if the pin becomes magnetized and is in "repel" alignment. That should go without saying. Actually, it is not a hat-pin per se, but a shorter ladies lapel pin. It never becomes magnetized from the modest field of a ferrite, but possibly could from a stronger NIB magnet. It was never magnetized during this test and was un-magnetized after the test. This is an anomaly ! and that is the reason it is shown. The pin stays in the same place when it is rotated 180 degree and put back in the tube - and/or - get this: the pin stays in the same place when the entire system is turned 180 degree (the pin does not drop away due to gravity in either of the two upside down alignments) The are four possibilities for levitating alignment and the pin stays in the same spot for all 4 of them. Brian Ahern actually has 4 images of the four possibilities - to prove this. The pin has no lateral/vertical stability - thus lateral support is needed to keep it stable. It flies over to any one of the four corners otherwise. This billet has been conditioned in a manner which was based on the work of Floyd Sweet. The conditioning involves huger burst of power though solenoid coils place in different areas around the edges of the magnet. There is information online about this. Yes I have such a billet and have seen the effect, but my billet is thinner (1/4") and the levitation distance is less, and I must use a light sewing pin. A nail is too heavy. Sadly, I have not been able to reproduce the energy gain but believe it is there and that this magnet and the circuit is the key to it. This "levitating pin effect" can, and has been, simulated with two magnets - one toroid and one ring speaker magnet, axially magnetized. That should tell you something. Place a clear tube with a pin inside a toroid which will hold the tube, and place that assembly inside, near the top, of a woofer speaker magnet, and the effect can be seen. The pin is "locked" in space, and levitated no matter what alignment it is in. From: Bob Higgins Does this photo (slide 6) show a slab of ferrite magnet? - probably. The long thin hat pin is magnetized and the plastic tube keeps the long hat pin magnet from flipping and is thus able to levitate. I don't see anything mysterious here. It is just showing that the ferrite slab is permanently magnetized. Not exactly. The pin is iron and will be attracted as a soft ferromagnet. With a normal ferrite, the pin will touch the surface, not levitate since the opposite field is induced. With the type of conditioning in this ferrite, the pin seeks equilibrium in the highest concentration of magnetic field lines, which is in the space above the billet, not touching it. You can flip the pin over and it stays levitated where it is.
