A Magnetic Analog of Quincke Rotation

• Published in: Technical physics letters Vol. 47; no. 9; pp. 653 - 655
• Main Author: Grachev, A. I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-09-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Axes of rotation; Classical and Continuum Physics; Diamagnetism; Ferromagnetism; Magnetism; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Rotating spheres; magnetic fluid; diamagnetic sphere; Quincke rotation
• ISSN: 1063-7850; 1090-6533
• DOI: 10.1134/S1063785021070063

The possibility of observing a magnetic analogue of the Quincke rotation is discussed, i.e., spontaneous rotation in a constant uniform magnetic field
B
of a spherical particle. Two variants of the experiment are considered: 1) a weakly magnetic particle immersed in a ferromagnetic liquid and 2) a diamagnetic sphere levitating in a vacuum. In the first case, spontaneous rotation is possible in fields
B
< 0.1 T for relaxation times of the magnetization of a particle of the order of 10
–3
s. The fundamental condition for the accelerated rotation of the diamagnetic sphere is the limitation of its rotational degree of freedom with the only possible direction for the axis of rotation orthogonal to the vector
B
.