12/07/2024 – APEC Open MIC

Updates on My Dipole Magnet Free-Fall Experiments. Mark 6 Free-Fall Objects using the BNO055 IMU in OPERATION_MODE_ACCGYRO with VECTOR_LINEARACCEL output

Original Libreoffice PowerPoint Presentation

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Updates on My Dipole Magnet Free-Fall Experiments

Mark 6 Magnet Free-Fall Experiment’s Acceleration Rate

Using the BNO055 IMU

• OPERATION_MODE_IMUPLUS was used which fuses accelerometer and gyroscopic data to generate the acceleration rates with the IMU. It was felt that excluding magnetometer data was best since the IMU was so close to the neodymium magnets.
• VECTOR_LINEARACCEL was chosen in order to calculate overall acceleration by the test objects rather than factoring in the influence of gravity. In other words, when holding the object still its acceleration rate is near 0 m/s2 and when the control is in free-fall near 9.8 m/s2.
• The IMU has a self-calibration feature and internal black box data fusion is useful for outputing acceleration rates in Meters/Second2 without having to do anything more than a Pythagorean Theorem to the X, Y, and Z data. However the acceleration rates drift lower over time in all experimental objects tested.
• It is unclear whether or not the BMI270 IMU used in the past, the BNO055 as used in last month’s Mark 5/10 experiments, the BNO055 as used in this Mark 6 experiment, or the BNO055 in a different mode and output would provide the most accurate data.
• That said, what was observed with the BMI270 in Mark 1 and BNO055 in Mark 5 is a dipole magnet in free-fall moving in the direction of north pole to south pole experiences progressive acceleration that does not stop until the object impacts the ground. In this Mark 6 NS/NS experiment acceleration plateaued and then decreased closely before impact.
• In Mark 1 -6, progressive acceleration was only ever observed in dipole magnets moving in the direction of north pole to south pole, not south pole to north pole.
• Claims by Boyd Bushman and others that two repulsively coupled magnets fall slower than a non-magnetic control object was not observed.

History of Published Magnet Free-Fall Experiments

In an effort to address speculation that my experimental data is bad and does not correlate with the data of other experimenters who have done magnet drop experiments I have collected the data available from their experiments.

Names and Dates of Magnet Free-Fall Experiments

• Boyd Bushman – 12/12/1995
• Tom Mahood – 11/18/1999 & 12/07/1999
• William Alek – 03/12/2009
• Magnet Tricks – 06/16/2015
• Rob Baker – 07/28/2017
• Elio Porcelli et al – 05/01/2021
• The Action Lab – 11/05/2021
• Robert Francis Jr – 09/14/2024 – Present

Magnet Grade

Magnet Dimensions

Magnet Masses

Magnet Pulling Force

Magnet Drop Height

Experimenters Who Tested Dropping Magnets in the Direction of North to South Pole

• Tom Mahood (11/18/1999) – Recorded results of acceleration greater than Control but dismissed them as experimental error.
• Tom Mahood (12/07/1999) – Recorded results of acceleration lower than Control.
• Robert Francis Jr (09/14/2024 – Present) – Recorded results of acceleration greater than control.

Others Did Not Test or It is Unknown

Why Did I Record Results that Cannot Be Attributed to Experimental Error Unlike Mr. Mahood?

Mr. Mahood used magnets 19mm OD x 2.57mm (5.36 grams) and 25.4mm OD x 4.75mm (36.05 grams) with an estimated pulling force of 7.01 lbs and 27.8 lbs respectively. He also used an optical sensor that was unable to measure the g-forces experienced by the magnet objects during free-fall, just the time in between the start and stop of free-fall.

I used magnets 50.8mm OD x 25.4mm (380 grams) with an estimated pulling force of 205 lbs. I used an accelerometer that was able to measure the progressive acceleration of the magnet object during free-fall and able to see from the data that the magnet object continued to increase in acceleration until collision with the ground.

Future Avenues of Experimentation

Finish Guide Wire System

Using More Than the Current Two RY04X0 Magnets

• I bought a total of six RY04X0 2” Diameter, 1” Thick, 1/4” ID neodymium magnets in order to test attractively and repulsively coupled magnet configurations.
• While stacking the magnets vertically will not increase the strength of the magnetic field at the very front of the stack, each magnet weighs approximately 380 grams.
• Such a vertically stacked arrangement should provide a similar inertial mass reduction field while also increasing the gravitational mass of the free-fall object.
• With the inertia reduction field staying relatively the same but gravitational mass increasing, the object should reach even greater levels of acceleration during free-fall.