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Superconductor Levitation In an effort to expand the product line on our Forcefield website, we located a supply of superconducting kits. Amazingly, we found a small manufacturer of superconducting pellets right here in town. We now sell this kit on the FORCEFIELD web site. They include 1 superconducting disc, about 1" diameter, an excellent instruction manual, a convenient styrofoam container(good for holding liquid nitrogen during the demonstration), 1 pair of plastic tweezers, and one 3/16" NdFeB magnet. Click here to purchase one of these kits from FORCEFIELD. Mention that you saw this page and we will throw in a few extra magnets! In order to make this work you'll need to get your own liquid Nitrogen. Of course, even high temperature superconductors need to be very cold. Liquid Nitrogen is required to chill the supeconductor to its critical tempurature. Surprisingly, liquid Nitrogen is very easy to come by. It is has many common applications, and is widely available and inexpensive. Any supply shop that sells CO2 and welding gasses should have it. Although special containers are made for the safe storage/shipment of liquid Nitrogen, many shops will be more than happy to fill your stainless steel thermos bottle for a couple bucks. It's very important if you acquire some in a thermos bottle or other container that you understand the dangers and safe handling procedures. You do not want liquid Nitrogen to come into contact with your body! Also, the stoppers and lids on the Thermos bottles MUST be keep loose so the gas can escape! If you tighten them down the containers will rupture violently, causing injury or death! In our thermos bottles, the liquid Nitrogen lasted over 30 hours before evaporating. Here you can see the liquid Nitrogen being poured on the superconducting pellet. As the pellet cools, the Nitrogen will boil violently. One needs to be very careful here. Once cold...amazing things happen! Item #24 might be useful for such experiments. Also check out our diamagnetic levitation experiments GET YOUR SUPERCONDUCTOR KIT HERE! !!! - EXPERIMENT SAFETY INFORMATION - !!! -- Dangerous -- This experiment requires liquid Nitrogren, which is extremely cold and can cause serious frost burns. Please don't EVEN attempt this experiment without first studying the hazards of cryogenic liquids!!! Safety goggles and thick gloves are required. The stoppers and lids on your Thermos bottles MUST be kept loose to allow the gas to escape. If they are tightened down, the bottle could rupture, causing injury or death. This experiment is perfect for science teachers and adult mad scientists...kids love to watch it, but it must be planned and performed by adults. We will gladly accept, review and consider your science experiment submissions for inclusion on this site, whether you are age 6 or age 100! Email us for details. Every experiment on these pages must be done with adult supervision only!!! If you are already an adult, we recommend getting a friend to help so you don't do anything childish and hurt yourself. We'll try to provide safety warnings, but cannot be held responsible for your own safety. Many of these experiments and many of the books we sell are from another era when safety was not a consideration, so PAY ATTENTION to the hazards of what you are doing! Wear safety goggles and gloves. Don't be stupid--YOU are supposed to be the adult here!

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THIS PAGE LAST UPDATED 1/23/02