Levitating frogs and humans

[Benm]

Well, it does get more complicated when you consider material properties. In case of the frog, i think they just calculated with water as the average material, both in density and in diamagnetic properties.

If you would substitute the water from something entirely different (say, ethanol), the required field strength for levitation would be different too.

 

[Bluefan]

True, but I don't think anyone could drink enough ethanol to make a difference in the magnetic field they need.

 

[Benm]

Nah, its fairly reasonable to assume that all vertrabrates have roughly the same composition really. The frog experiment has been repeated using mice at JPL, which is further practical proof its perfectly feasible to diamagentically levitate a human, as long as you get the -area- of the magnetic field large enough.

The field strength is not really a problem. Most modern day NMR machines found in university biochemistry departments produce a field strong enough to levitate animals, but the bore is suited for 5mm diameter tubes, not frogs.

The problem with building a machine that can levitate a man is in the material properties of current superconductors: they break down because of the large field strength required to generate a field that strong and that big. This is why the frog team had to use a conventional electromagnet and use a shitload of power to maintain the field... in a superconducting magnet there is no power required to maintain the field once its powered up.