It has been a while since I posted what the heck is this number 16. No one really got this one correct. Honestly, this was a tough one. I never would have figured it out even with my hint. Well, maybe I could have guessed.
Let me introduce this solution with a video.
The amazingly old CENCO catalog that I have labels this as a 'Balanced Repulsion Disk'. How does this work? Why does it do what it does? First, the electromagnet. This sucker has a current running through it. The current makes a magnetic field. Since the current is changing, the magnetic field changes.
Note that there are no ferromagnetic materials in the repulsion balance (that is a pretty dumb name). The bottom disk is a conductor though. When there is a changing magnetic field, this creates a changing electric field in the conductor which creates a changing current. This changing current then also creates a magnetic field which interacts with the magnetic field from the electromagnet. Simple. No? Oh, you want some math? Here you go:
Behold. Faraday's Law.
