levitating magnets

[mike89]

Now i have a question that i myself wasnt able to answer by my self so i signed up for this after finding a seemingly large number of intelligent people here..... so i was wondering if i were to have a strong cylinder tube shaped magnet and a larger cylinder that would be hollow and magnatized with a similar charge making them repel would the cylinder inside be able to levitate within the larger cylinder, also with each end closed off. please if i have anything wrong on this correct me and explain it to me, and also i was wondering if this were possible if the magnetic repultion would be enough so if i were to shake it around or something it wouldnt rattle around or anything.

[orbsycli]

i believe that's how the bullet train works, am i wrong?

[mike89]

well you see i was wondering about that, athough i am not sure what i am talking about seem almost the same yet im talking about getting a smaller shaft in a larger cylinder making it levitate in side like i said but getting it perfectly centered so it could spin freely if spun and if it were to have 10-20 lbs of pressure on it in any way it wouldnt make the smaller cylinder collide with the inside of the larger one

[orbsycli]

it seems likely but wouldn't it launch the inner cylinder out of the sides?

[mike89]

that would be another issure but i was thinking getting sides put on each end of the larger cylinder and magnatize it right on either side so it wouldnt touch either end either or launch out either side

[C1ay]

In short, yes, you can use one magnet to levitate another. You'd probably enjoy some of these links.

[mike89]

alright thank you i will look into those sites and if anyone has more input please post it and tell me why it may not work and how to over come any of these issues that may occur

[C1ay]

You might enjoy some of these images of levitating magnets as well.

[mike89]

and if the smaller cylinder were to start spinning and it was in a complete vacuum would it not just keep spinning because there would be no resistance of any sort?

[C1ay]

Originally Posted by mike89

and if the smaller cylinder were to start spinning and it was in a complete vacuum would it not just keep spinning because there would be no resistance of any sort?

No, you would not have a uniform repulsing field in the assembly and the interacting fields would slow it down to a stop. Also, if your magnets are conductive you would also get eddy currents that would act as a load which would slow it down even faster. Sorry, no perpetual motion machine here.