Floating in Aluminum

In this exhibit, we raised and lower the lifting magnet to make the small magnet float between the two aluminum slabs. We tried to keep the magnet floating between the slabs by adjusting the lifting magnet.
We noticed that the closer the magnet is to the aluminum, the slower it moves. As we draw the lower magnet up with the upper magnet, the motion includes eddy currents that slow down the lower magnet’s motion. This effectively sets up a feedback system slow enough for us to keep the magnet suspended in mid-air.