Magnetic fields revealed in slow motion

There are scientific toys and tools that can easily reveal the magnetic fields around a magnet—we’ve even made this DIY black sand version. But what does it look like when you bounce a powerful neodymium magnet and magnetite sand into the air with a homemade trampoline while filming it at high speed?

Magnetic Games’ slow-motion experiments with this set up reveal the magnetic fields around two powerful neodymium blocks. Despite the video’s focus challenges, the patterns of lines of force are evident as magnetite grains, like the experiment’s traditional iron shavings, arrange themselves. From Brilliant:

…iron shavings can be used to map out the magnetic field of a device. Each particle in a jar of iron shavings is a small (ferro)magnetic dipole and will align to the local magnetic field. In this way, it is like deploying thousands of tiny compasses all around to get simultaneous global view of the field.

Next, watch DIY Ferrocell: How to make a magnetic field viewer, smashing stuff with neodymium magnets, and more videos about magnetic fields.