I am a 16 yr. Old boy.please explain the whole procedure to make a small maglev train for school project.if you do have any other idea of a cool science project pls do tell me with the procedure to make it.thanks
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I agree with the other person who said simple in theory, hard in practice. However, there IS a way that IS simple. Use permanent magnets. You will need a bunch. First, identify the poles. It does not matter which you label as N or S, just so long as you are consistent, so N repels N, and S repels S. If you want it to be accurate for the label, suspend a magnet by a thread in a place where wind is not a factor, and turn it into a compass. The end pointing to magnetic NORTH will be a SOUTH pole of the magnet. Anyway, construct a U shape track or channel. Lay a series of magnets along a line in the bottom with the N pole facing up. Now, create a "car" with a magnet at each end with the N pole facing down. The car will "float" on the two end magnets. Now, you can do one of two things, either use embedded wheels in the sides to keep the car upright, OR lay a series of magnets in the sides exactly as you did with the bottom, and use magnets on the sides just as you did with the bottom. If the car is too heavy for the two end magnets, simply add more in a line along the bottom. You MUST have 2 or more magnets separated by distance or you will have a stability problem. On the sides, you will only need a magnet at each end of the car since it is really easy to keep it from falling over, but much harder to support the whole weight of the car. Years ago, I made one of these as a school project for my son. We levitated a HO gage railroad car, which ran on the track until it reached a "bridge" with magnets to "lift" the car, then a guide at the other to get the wheels in line with the tracks on the other side where it transitioned back onto the normal wheels. We pushed the car by hand. It was too complicated to make it a powered model. The hardest part was adjusting the height of the support magnets in the bridge so the car would remain in line with the tracks at each end. If you know what a "rerailer" section is, that was what we used to align the wheels with the rails at each end.The idea was to show the railroad car could run on normal tracks, transition to magnetic support to cross the gap, and then transition back to tracks again. It was a "proof of concept" project, NOT a scale model and NOT a practical demonstration of the technology. All this concept model showed was that it was possible to magnetically support a railroad car over a break in the rails and align the wheels at each end as it. If you have ever watched Mythbusters, you would have seen them use a model to see if something is even possible before ramping up to a larger scale. Anyway, we used a soda straw to blow on the car to make it move slowly along to simulate a moving magnetic field. All the permanent magnets did was support the works and keep it upright in the U channel. As for the real thing, they use electromagnets which vary their power to accommodate variable weights. The same electromagnets which support the weight can also be used to propel the car with a thing called a "linear motor". A discussion of a linear motor to use for propulsion is beyond the scope of this course. You will need ring or flat plate magnets with pole pieces on each of the large, flat sides. And you will need super glue or something similar. The magnets placed side by side will want to repel each other as well as the magnets above and below. You will have to force them to stay in place in some manner. This was all done a number of years ago. I have no idea what happened to the concept model. It was NOT easy to master the trick of blowing on the car to get it to move. Too much and it would "bounce" when it got to the magnet field and not align right at the other end. too little and it simple would not move at all. This IS a complicated project, but it is not impossible. Use your imagination for what you decide to use. We used a HO gage railroad car simply because we had all of the materials, except magnets, on hand in my toy room where my model railroad sits. It took a trip to Ebay to get a lot of really cheap magnets in large quantity. The simplest way to levitate things on a magnetic field is two ring magnets and a rod. One magnet will float over the other with the rod keeping things in line. This is the concept used in magnetic "springs". Use a couple of rare earth magnets and it is surprising the amount of weight that can be supported on a magnetic field. The same thing applies to air by the way. A flat round plate with a hole in the center with air coming out of it, will lift the plate and make it almost frictionless on a flat surface. This is the concept used in air hockey, only the flow of air is opposite, with many holes in the table and the puck floating on top of the air. Start with a pinhole and slowly enlarge the hole until the height is enough for the edge of the disk to stay off the table. Use your kitchen table or any other smooth surface. The maglev thing is complicated. The pneumatic cushion idea is MUCH easier.
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The train may be conceptually simple but not practical to reproduce at home. I'd recommend this.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9j7LR9G9…