...just wondered what would happen if you were able to manufacture an enclosed metal container that magnetically had a positive charge within it's entire interior wall...and could hold it's structural integrity. Lets say it weighed 50 lbs. in total.
...and then....could you have within this object a metal ball ALSO of positive charge...smaller, of course, and weighing perhaps 5 lbs. As far as I understand, "like-charged" objects will magnetically repel each other...meaning the central object should be in a state of levitation within the larger container...with both inner wall and object having positive charges.
The REAL question is this....if one were to weigh the container with this object within (hovering presumably), would it weigh in at 55 lbs. (the weight of both), or will it weigh in at 50 lbs...just the weight of the container???....since the inner object is effectively levitating?
2007-02-03 11:24:04 · 9 answers · asked by bradxschuman 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Interesting, the different opinions. I have to try it sometime....if it only winds up weighing 50 lbs. with the object within, then there's a BIG flaw in relativity!
2007-02-03 11:37:42 · update #1
The levitated object is only floating because it is pressing down on the magnetic field and is being pressed upward by the same field. This will exert a force downward on the container, so it will weigh in at 55 lbs.
When you hold two magnets together so that they repel each other, they are both pushed, not just one. If you push one in towards the other, you'll feel the push on the other.
2007-02-03 11:30:14 · answer #1 · answered by Gnomon 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You have electric charge and magnetic strength confused. Electric charges come in positive and negative, with like charges repelling each other. One of the consequence of like charges repelling is that you can't have a net electric charge on the inside of a conductive body - all the like charges get as far as possible from each other, and that is on the outside surface of the conductor.
Magnetic fields have a direction and strength, but no polarity. North and South poles always occur together. If you bring two like poles together, they repel, but all you have to do is turn one magnet around and they reinforce each other.
You can still set up you experiment inside a metal box by mounting a strong magnet with N pole up on the inside bottom of the box, putting a clear tube over it just to keep things centered, and dropping another strong magnet, N pole down, into the tube. The upper magnet will hover, and you can weigh the whole rig. Seeing things with your own eyes is a good idea, and I urge you to do the experiment.
To predict the outcome, though, consider this. Look at the magnet sitting on the bottom of the box, or the box sitting on the scale at atomic size scales. The atoms don't merge because the electrons in the outer shells of the atoms repel each other. Nothing actually touches.
2007-02-03 12:09:32 · answer #2 · answered by virtualguy92107 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since the force necessary to levitate the ball would have an equal and opposite reaction on the walls of the containment vessel. The mass would still transfer as weight to the total of the two. 55 lbs.
2007-02-03 11:31:21 · answer #3 · answered by Stuka 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have two fundamental misconceptions. First, there are no magnetic charges like there are electric charges. This means the divergence of the magnetic field is always zero. Second, even if there were (or you recast you question in terms of electric charges) Guass' law implies that in your geometry, the force of the center charge is zero. That said, magnetic levitation *is* possible under different conditions, and the box would weigh 55 lbs.
2007-02-03 15:06:59 · answer #4 · answered by Dr. R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would weigh 55lbs because the resulting force of the inner magnet on the outer one = the weight of the inner magnet .. so whole thing would weigh 55lbs. It's the same kind of question like the one with the canary flying inside the cage. If you have a cage with a bird in it and the bird is flying and you weigh the cage, the weight would be that of the cage + the bird.
2007-02-03 11:39:33 · answer #5 · answered by lachlaan2004 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
for every reaction there is a action there is a reaction, 55 lbs acting normal to ground would equal 55 lbs.
2007-02-03 11:33:51 · answer #6 · answered by B0NER 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
55 lbs, because it's still inside the container,
2007-02-03 11:27:18 · answer #7 · answered by kz 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it would weigh at 50lbs as long as the ball didnt touch any side of the metal container, it would be 50lbs, because you have gravity...and its gravity that weighs us, now if the ball can't be pushed down by the gravity it cant have a weight, resulting in it only being 50lbs
2007-02-03 11:33:09 · answer #8 · answered by Charlie N 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
55lbs because the 5lb object ishoovering due to the preasure from all around it but it is still exerting 5lbs of force back
2007-02-03 11:45:56 · answer #9 · answered by oreobabylove 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋