Wednesday, October 31, 2007
78 protons
This question was handed in to us by Prasanth. What is going on here?
Cracked by: udupendra , bs , Varun.M , sidsen , vaibhav008 , Biki , alephnull , yaksha , Tathagata Chatterjee , nihit , rajeshvj , C’na and Keerthi.
udupendra, bs, Varun.M, sidsen, vaibhav008, Biki, alephnull, yaksha, Tathagata Chatterjee, nihit, rajeshvj, C’na and Keerthi
Show Answer
This is a “Levitron” in action. Brand names aside, its a spin-stablized magnetic top. The magical floating being caused by repulsion between the like poles at the bottom of the top, and the top of the surface below the top (puns ahoy). The thing doesn’t flip over because the rotation keeps it upright on its vertical axis.