How much does a falling magnet weigh?

35 thoughts on “How much does a falling magnet weigh?”

1. That's repulsive.  I like it.

2. It looks like the weight is a few grams greater when the magnet is falling vs when it is at rest…

3. Wow, that was very suprising! Interesting experiment!

4. Bahahaha OK, your magnetic shield: a roll of packing tape + note card?  Fail!!!! I promise you with a neodymium magnet that size 1-1/2 inches of separation did nearly nothing at all to shield the scale. If the platform had not been nonferrous stainless steel that truth would have been woefully apparent.    

5. very cool =D

6. This felt almost like a veretasium video, except you didn't go ask people what they thought would happen beforehand.

7. Awesome

8. consider the following situation : 2 infinite current carrying wires kept perpendicular ..now compute forces due to each on the other..m not quite sure if they're equal and opposite ?!

9. The force of gravity on the magnet is always 9.81m/s2.

    If the diameter of the tube decreased, the magnetic field strength will increase due to lines of flux a lot closer thus restricting the acceleration of the magnet where it quickly reaches its terminal velocity where it levels out. The opposite applies if you increase the diameter of the tube.

   But I have a question… Does the force of gravity acting on the magnet CHANGE whilst inside the tube?

   I'm not sure about that, I think the force of gravity decreases if the diameter is smaller due to the magnet falling slower. Think about gravity on the moon, its force of gravity is 1.62, so things fall a lot slower than here, just like the magnet does in the tube. That's why I think the force of gravity acting on the magnet decreases whilst inside the tube.

   But I always thought everything on Earth has a force acting on it of 9.81m/s2?

   I appreciate your thoughts on this!

10. how much energy could one win of that

11. why would anyone thing otherwise? 

12. As the magnet settles on its terminal velocity through the tube, the weight on the scale will equal exactly that of the magnet.

13. Actually – when you drop anything that has mass, gravity acts upon it (if we're using Newton's accounting for it) and draws it towards the centre of the Earth, until it hits the surface of the Earth. Thing is – when you let go of something, regardless of how heavy it is in your hand before you let it go, it actually weighs nothing once it's left your hand. This is because it's in free-fall, and there is only one force acting on it. When it lands, it will once again have weight. How is that so?

    Remember, if you drop a 1kg bag of sugar strapped to a set of scales, for the duration of the drop, there will be no weight registering on the scales – until the whole apparatus hits the ground, when (if the whole sherbang doesn't disintegrate!) the scales will finally register a weight!)

    This is how: there is, once again, a reaction force – equal in size and opposite in direction – acting on the thing you dropped. Just like there was then this thing was in your hand. How, you may as, does this happen? The clue is in this video.

14. This is a similar question to: "how much does a hovering helicopter weigh?" To illustrate the answer,  when a drone (toy) helicopter is placed on a large circular panel that is then set on top of a digital bathroom scale, and is made to lift off and hover, the downrush of air utilized to lift the machine exerts the same amount of downward force (weight) on the panel as when the drone is actually sitting on the panel. So the answer is "the same as when it is at rest"

15. If the tube and magnet were in "zero gravity" or free fall would the magnet stay in the center of the tube or is motion necessary for the electromagnetic interaction. I think it would need motion given generators need motion. Do charged ions or plasma have this same interaction / effect inside magnetic bottles or can it be used to contain plasma?

16. Cool experiment

17. Interesting but obvious 🙂

18. What would happen if you had a sealed circular tube with a magnet inside? If the inside of the tube was a vacuum I assume the magnet would not come to a stop because of air drag and should move around infinitely?

19. OH WOW
    IF YOU PUT SOMETHING ON SOMETHING ELSE THE MASS ADDS UP OMG

20. I thought I knew the answer but now I'm confused. I would think the weighing scale would read less while the magnet is falling, than when it's lying on the bottom. Also, a good scale would read a peak when the magnet hits the bottom.

    But I guess it depends on the equilibrium speed that the magnet would go to in an infinitely long pipe, compared to the speed of entry into the pipe.. If the entry speed is higher than the equilibrium speed, the weighing scale will in fact measure more than when the magnet is lying on the bottom.

    While the magnet is accelerating due to gravity, the scale should read less than when the magnet lies on the bottom. And of course it should read most of the weight of the magnet more than when there is no magnet.

21. Pardon me, but the explanation is not satisfactory or clear.
    You did the explaining but the phenomenon is not properly clearly explained.

22. Weight isn't a force. Objects don't accelerate towards the ground when you release them. When you stand on the ground, you are being accelerated away from the straight path that you would otherwise follow through spacetime. The force that you feel on your feet is F=ma. Your mass times the acceleration due to the Earth being in the way of the straight line you would otherwise follow.

    How can you have stuff that's so completely wrong on a science education video?

23. You show the weight of tube at start = 360 grams then 370 grams for tube plus magnet at rest after falling. Then at end weight of magnet alone of 370 grams. Why does the weight of magnet plus tube after falling not = 360 g tube + 370 g magnet = 730 grams instead of 370 grams. Is the magnet still supporting most of the weight of the tube at rest when on the scales. In other words is the weight of the tube with the magnet inside it at rest about 10 grams. The weight of the magnet while falling inside the tube must be close to weightless. The magnet also seems to fall through the tube with a constant velocity and with no noticable accelleration due to gravity.

24. Cool

25. Not the weight it is the mass except the magnetic force.

26. What would be the weight of the magnet while falling , will it decrease.

27. te-yoob

28. I think the weight of the tube will increase by a slightly smaller weight than the magnet.
    (Slightly smaller because the magnet is still moving downward, albeit much slower)

    So if the tube weighs 5lb and the magnet is 1lb, I expect the outcome to be something like 5.95lb

29. For me I thinks the magnetic falling in the tube is not create gravity ,but it create aluminum move because magnet falling through the tube has unequal force .we can say magnetic falling through the tube has unequal force because 1 )while magnet falling ! is moving side by side than produce current in different positions so the tube are getting different force effected.

30. The floor's supporting my weight, so I'm not accelerating anywhere….so beautifully said 🙂

31. you did not explain what produce the effect. I checked your other video, they all describe the effect, not the mechanic produce the effect. MG1

32. amazing

33. as the magnetic fields interact the magnet is pulling the tube down as it falls inside the difference will be the weight of the magnet

34. what if you make a ball of coper? and put magnet is the magnet well stay in the middle of a ball coper and float?

35. If a magnet levitates over another magnet does the bottom one gain the weight 2 also if the bottom magnet is stronger then the top one if you add weight to the top magnet will it add weight to the bottom one even if it's a stronger magnet or electric magnet

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