Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Dear Sir/Madam

I am Hrithika from India, studying in 8th grade.

I require your valuable suggestion/advice regarding my state level science fare project scheduled in last week of January 2014.

I was reading the article MAGNETICALLY LEVITATING GRAPHITE CANE BE MOVED WITH LASER (Paper submitted by Kobavashi
Link is : http://phys.org/news/2012-12-magnetical ... laser.html) . I am really impressed with that.

I will be grateful if you can advise me whether I can demonstrate the same in my science fair. If yes, will you please guide me with the specification of the items used for the project. If no, please suggest me a good project which I can do it myself.

Kindly help me. Eagerly waiting for your reply.

Best Regards

Hrithika V
8th grade, High Scool
Public School
Udupi - Karnataka
Pin : 576101
INDIA

Hello Hrithika,

I hope that you have been able to spend some time thinking about your science fair project.

I agree that the Magnetic Levitation experiment you linked to is very impressive and interesting. Given the time frame you have to work with and the resources generally available in a school, it might be difficult for you to reproduce that exact experiment at home.

My suggestion is to find an experiment that you will be able to learn from without needing too many super-expensive resources.

Here are a couple links that address similar topics (analyzing magnetic force) from the Science Buddies Project Ideas section.
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p067.shtml
(an experiment idea around magnetic levitation)

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p093.shtml
(the same idea, applied to levitating a model train)

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p081.shtml
(making a "gun" using magnetic propulsion to launch a metal object)

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p025.shtml
(showing how temperature can affect a magnet)

Use these as a starting point - my recommendation is that it is better to do an experiment that you can fully appreciate and complete, rather than trying to do something that requires very expensive apparatus and more time than you may have to fully complete.

Good luck!