College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
5G30.40 - Diamagnetic Water
The easiest way to do this demo is to fill the small plastic containers with water and hang them from the thread and arm accessory. Use the large magnet to push them around without touching the containers.
Place the magnet array into the Petri dish. Fill the dish with water so that it just barely covers the magnets. Wet a piece of construction paper and place it on top of the magnets. Use the syringe to add or subtract water so that the indentation over the magnets is readily apparent. The water level should be about 1 mm over the top of the magnets when the effect is most apparent. The indentation is due to the water moving away from the pole faces of the magnets, showing the diamagnetic properties of liquid water.
- Daniel Laumann, "Even Liquids Are Magnetic: Observation of the Moses Effect and the Inverse Moses Effect", TPT, Vol. 56, #6, Sept. 2018, p. 352.
- Zijun Chen and Dan Dahlberg, "Deformation of Water by a Magnetic Field", TPT, Vol. 49, #3, Mar. 2011, p. 144.
- Chris Conery, L. F. Goodrich, and T. C. Stauffer, "More Diamagnetism Demonstrations", TPT, Vol. 41, #2, Feb. 2003, p. 74.
Disclaimer: These demonstrations are provided only for illustrative use by persons affiliated with The University of Iowa and only under the direction of a trained instructor or physicist. The University of Iowa is not responsible for demonstrations performed by those using their own equipment or who choose to use this reference material for their own purpose. The demonstrations included here are within the public domain and can be found in materials contained in libraries, bookstores, and through electronic sources. Performing all or any portion of any of these demonstrations, with or without revisions not depicted here entails inherent risks. These risks include, without limitation, bodily injury (and possibly death), including risks to health that may be temporary or permanent and that may exacerbate a pre-existing medical condition; and property loss or damage. Anyone performing any part of these demonstrations, even with revisions, knowingly and voluntarily assumes all risks associated with them.