Question

I am planning to take Physics next semester. We already received our syllabus and I want to start on my project now.

Design

Construct, and demonstrate

A copper penny can be levitated using any two or more of the following techniques in your design: electrostatics, magnetostatics, and electromagnetics.

All components must be built out of household materials.

Answer 1

for the project to levitate a penny

a. using electrostatics

for this we need an electric field source ( such as capacitor)

let vapacitance be C

then plate seperation d

hence

q = CV

V is applied voltage

now, mass of penny = m

let charge q' be deposited on the penny

then

electric field around penny E = V/d

hence for levitatoin

mg = q'E = q'*V/d

now lets say we can deposit charge of 10^-10 C on the penny by electrostatic rubbing

then

m = 20 g

hence

for d = 4 cm

V = 78480000 V

this kind of voltage can be dangerous for the experiment

hence we reduce plate distanc to 2 cm

and charge the penny 1 micro coulomb

V = 3924 V

b. using magnetostatics

the penny is ferromagnetic then a stron enough magnetic field can levitate it

this magnetic field can be generated using helmoltz coils in vertical direction to balance the mass of the penny

c. electromagnetics, we can have current running through the penny and use this current and a combination of electric field ( using capacitor plates) and magneitc field( using helmoltz coils) to levitate the penny

the helmoltz coils can be created using the extra copper windings of old transformers and the capacitors can be made using aluminium foils