Magnetic Toys

Magneview Flim

Get some magnetic viewing film here: 
From Educational Innovations: BUY NOW Magnetic Viewing Film 

Magneview Flim: making the invisible visible and revealing the hidden physics of our everyday world. Microscopic cavities in this green film are filled with oil and tiny flakes of Nickel metal- like compass needles, the flakes align with the magnetic fields revealing the complexity of the north and south pole domains of these magnets. Two of the disk magnets have multiple north and south poles and look like gears with teeth- these are rotors from small motors. 

Paperclip Magnetic Top

These tops will work with a paperclip too: 
From eBay: BUY NOW  Magnetic Tipped Top

Here is a very nice version:
From Grand Illusions Ltd: BUY NOW: Magnetic Tipped Top

Paperclip Magnetic Top: the magnetic tipped top attaches to the perimeter of the paperclip- but since the top has much more mass, the paperclip is put into curious motion due to Newton's 3rd law and the top's rotational inertia. This transparent version allows full view of the moving clip. Patented in 1946 under the name Hoy-Poy Top, this antique kinetic art toy made it into my collection as a gift from the folks at @shirepostmint- thanks! 


Magnetic Chaotic Pendulum

Currently available here: 
From Amazon: BUY NOW Magnetic Chaotic Pendulum 

Chick here for similar chaotic systems

Magnetic Chaotic Pendulum: adding magnetic forces to gravity gives this pendulum chaotic motion- not random, but very sensitive to slight differences in initial launch conditions. Arranging the dipoles magnets on the base leads to different patterns of motion- here the center magnet attracts and the rest are set to repel. ROMP pendulum by Hog Wild toy company. 

In Defiance of Gravity

Neodymium magnets will produce the largest gap when suspending a nail or other iron rich objects.
Please use exterme caution when handling these magnets. 

From Amazon: BUY NOW: Neodymium Super Magnet

In Defiance of Gravity: a 3 oz plumb bob in suspension between a chain and a powerful neodymium magnet. Ferromagnetic attraction over a distance of many millimeters, and a reminder of the presence of the typically invisible electromagnetic forces all around us. Sculpture: oak, stainless steel chain and hardware, neodymium super magnet, standard plumb bob tool. Iron filings in oil align and chain together to reveal the magnetic field lines of the equilibrium configuration.


Chaotic magnetic Pendulum

These chaotic pendula are still available on eBay:

From eBay: BUY NOW: Krazy Leg Pendulum

Chick here for similar chaotic systems

Chaotic Magnet Pendulum: adding magnetic forces to gravity gives this pendulum chaotic motion- not random, but very sensitive to slight differences in initial launch conditions. Swipe to see a particular launch path that begins with a semi-stable orbit but then goes chaotic, captured with an attached LED and recorded with a slow shutter app. Arranging the dipoles magnets on the base leads to different patterns of motion- here white attracts and black repels. This vintage device is from the 1970s and was sold by the name “Krazy Leg” by Rathcon Inc.

In-Feed Google 2

Ferromagnetic Elements

Starter set of 10mm cubes of 99.9% pure elemets available here: 

From Amazon: BUY NOW: Pure Element Cube Samples

The main 4 ferromagnetic elements are: Fe, Co, Ni, and Gd. 

Ferromagnetic Elements: which metals from the periodic table experience strong attraction towards a magnet? Here are seven samples- 1 cm cubes of 99% pure elements: Ti (titanium), Fe (iron), Co (cobalt), Ni (nickel), Cu (copper), Gd (gadolinium), and W (tungsten)- which of these metals are ferromagnetic? Swipe once to check your answer, swipe twice to see how some are more strongly ferromagnetic than others. Although magnets are familiar objects, the physics of ferromagnetism is very complex and is described by the quantum mechanics of intrinsic particle spin and the specific electron configurations of solids and molecules.


Ferrofluid Magnetic Tree Sculpture

Similar ferrofluid devices available here: 
From Etsy: BUY NOW Ferrofluid Sculptures 

Ferrofluid Magnetic Tree Sculpture: the 'Nano Tree' by Concept Zero designs using gold colored ferrofluid which can be manipulated with a handheld magnet. The spiky structure is due to the balance between the forces from the focused magnetic fields (from a neodymium magnet in the base connected to an iron rich bolt) and the forces from liquid surface tension on the colloidal ferromagnetic liquid. 

Magnetic Fidget Physics

I got this fun device here:

From Etsy: BUY NOW: Haptic Magnet Toys

Magnetic Fidget Physics: iron rich ball bearings temporarily become dipole magnets and repel each other- and when manipulated they keep their distance. In this design the ball bearings snap into place above one of the seven neodymium magnets embedded within the 3D printed disk.

Magnetic Suspsension Sculpture

This DIY magneits sculpture can be assemebled with these parts.  Bring a magnet into a craft shop to find some necklace chain that is non-magnetic. 
From Amazon/eBay: BUY NOW: Quilting Hoop, Neodyumium Sphere Magnets

Magnetic Flux Gyroscope art and other amazing science inspired jewelry available here:
From Foxtail Jewelry: BUY NOW: Kinetic Magnetic Pendants
From Foxtail Jewelry: BUY NOW: Tabletop Magnetic Kinetic Art

Magnetic Suspension Sculpture: two neodymium magnets on chains suspended by their mutual magnetic attraction in this prototype kinetic sculpture (swipe to see scaled fine jewelry version by foxtailjewelry). These powerful magnets hold the chains taut with about a 2cm gap. Made from a quilting hoop where the magnets connect under their own force to steel nails soldered on to non-magnetic chain.


Curie Point Heat Engine

This DIY project is pretty easy to build. One half of one of these inexpensive magnetic necklace clasps will work well for the heated magnet. 
From Amazon: BUY NOW: magnets for curie point engine

A full engine is available from my friends at Grand Illusions Ltd: 
From GI LTD: BUY NOW: Curie Engine 

Curie Point Heat Engine: when the magnet on the end of the wire heats up to a particular temperature (the Curie point) its magnetic field is temporarily lost until it cools. This engine design uses a second magnet to pull the swinging magnet back into the heat source once the magnetic field is reestablished. Repetition of this process creates mechanical motion as long as the heat source is fueled.

Spring/Latch Polymagnets

Avilable here: 
From Polymagnet.com: BUY NOW 
Spring/Latch Pair Demo 

Get some magnetic viewing film here: 
From Educational Innovations: BUY NOW 
Magnetic Viewing Film 
From Amazon: BUY NOW 
Magnetic Viewing Film 

Spring Latch Polymagnets: this pair of coded magnets attract but don’t touch in a state of stable equilibrium at a distance of 1/2 cm- but if one magnet is turned a half twist they latch together. Magnetic viewing film reveals the specific and complex arrangement of N and S poles that allow for this set to act like a spring or a latch (although only if constrained to an axis along their centers). 


Gyro-Carousel

Get this unique toy and amny other whimsical spinnign tops from this store:

From Etsy: BUY NOW: Gyro-Carousel Globe Tops

Gyro-Carousel: two terrestrial globe spin tops of the same mass hang balanced on the ends of a beam such that their rotational motion is allowed to transfer to the system as a whole. The tops are set to spin as usual, but here small neodymium magnets are embedded in the tops of their stems which allows them to connect and hang from metal pins in the beam. The angular momentum of each top is slowly transferred to the rotation of the system by the slight force of friction acting at the attachment point on the beam produced by the stem of the spinning top. Studies show that approximately 1% of the original rotational kinetic energy of the tops is transferred to the rotating beam, not much- but enough to produce this interesting effect. A design by physicist Christian Ucke and a product of KreiselArt (Ulrich Büker).

 

Ferrofluid Interactive Lava Lamp

Available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW Ferrofluid Lava Lamp

Ferrofluid Interactive Lava Lamp: special ferrofluid infused wax allows manipulation of the blobs of “lava” with a weak magnet, adding an interactive element to the already mesmerizing physics of convective heat flow, Archimedes principle, and immiscible liquids. Love the atomic rocket theme on this updated version of the 1960s classic physics toy. 

More here: Ferrofluid Interactive Sculptures

Vintage Telephone Magneto

Working vintage magnetos can be found on eBay for reasonable prices: 
From eBay: BUY NOW Vintage Bar Magneto Generators

Lots of digital oscilloscopes on eBay as well: 
From eBay: BUY NOW Tektronix digital oscilloscope

Vintage Telephone Magneto: a functioning antique 5 bar telephone magneto generator- made in 1910! As indicated by the neon bulb voltage divider- with sufficient cranking speed this generator can create a significant AC voltage using the characteristic horseshoe shaped magnets (bars) to provide the induction field. The AC current is of a low frequency as indicated by the flickering bulbs. A digital storage oscilloscope allows us to view the AC waveform output of this vintage magneto generator (swipe for demo). Note that although the output voltage is periodic, it is far from the ideal AC sine wave that we learn about (like those off the mains into our homes). Faraday’s Law describes the produced current in a moving coil of copper near a magnetic field, but it takes careful engineering of the coil and field to produce a sinusoidal AC output. The scope shows an impressive peak voltage of more than 350V- note that in 1910 only 40% of US homes had electricity so these generators were used to ring telephone bells up to 20 miles away!