Isn’t this just an application of those floating globes and speakers and such that clog up the SkyMall catalog? I watched that guy try to get his globe centered and I think you could make a cheap one of these with that globe toy, just pop the top off, fill w potting soil, sand etc and then your plant, nicely centered of course. Just expect to pick up the plant several times a year…
Or maybe these are stronger magnets? Careful ‘orbo’ (wink!) placement (a ring of strong magnets all pointed at an angle out? makes a lower field ‘dimple’ or well in the field lines in the center right? angle would be tricky? or are they using electromagnets and some sort of pulsing or strobing or… me dumb so pls forgive! =)
I skimmed the kickstarter page and I’m still not sure I get how this works.
How does this stay upright? is there a lot of weight at the bottom? is the magnet in the floating ball close to the top of the ball? Does it gradually invert if you let your tree grow too big?
I got one of these years ago… Works fine, can support half a pound or so.
(Hide it under a table surface and levitate something that hides the magnet, like a crumpled wad of paper…)
If I recall correctly (and I may not) it is provably impossible to achieve stable levitation with only permanent magnets (unless the object is anchored in some way, e.g. tie-down threads to keep it from drifting or flipping). To do it with magnets alone, you need electromagnets and (I think) some sort of sensor logic to vary their power and maintain balance as the object tries to shift.
(Oh, I guess you can do it with permanent magnets if your object is a superconductor, because quantum locking is amazing. Unfortunately we still don’t have superconductors that function above cryogenic temperatures, so this is more of a party trick than a coffee-table item.)
