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[at-l] floating frogs
Through in a rope, two dogs, and an umbrella . . . IMAGINE the
possibilities!
> What's green and flies? A frog in a magnetic field
>
> The Associated Press
>
> LONDON - British and Dutch scientists say they have succeeded in floating
a
> frog in air by using a magnetic field 1 million times stronger than that
of
> the Earth.
>
> And, they say, there is no reason why larger creatures, even humans,
> shouldn't perform the same gravity-defying feat.
>
> "It's perfectly feasible if you have a large enough magnetic field," said
> Peter Main, professor of physics at Nottingham University, one of the
> British scientists who
> collaborated with colleagues at the University of Nijmegen to create the
> first levitating amphibian.
>
> Their endeavors are reported briefly in the current issue of the British
> magazine New Scientist.
>
> To hold up the frog, the field had to be 1 million times that of the
Earth,
> the scientists said. Only then was it strong enough to distort the orbits
of
> electrons in the
> frog's atoms.
>
> "If the magnetic field pushes the frog away with sufficient force, you
will
> overcome gravity and the frog will float," Main said.
>
> The trick doesn't work on only frogs: Scientists say they have made
plants,
> grasshoppers and fish float in the same way.
>
> "Every ordinary object, whether it be a frog, a grasshopper or a
sandwich,
> is magnetic, but it's very rare to see such a spectacular demonstration
of
> this," said Main.
>
> The scientists said their frog showed no signs of distress after floating
in
> the air inside a magnetic cylinder.
>
>
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