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Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by pera on Saturday August 05, 2023 @09:14AM (#37011698)
Seriously? To me this looks like a chip of graphite glued to an invisible thread. The way the object moves is not what I would expect from magnetism (see second 10 for instance)
Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by nicpottier on Saturday August 05, 2023 @09:42AM (#37011929)
Have you watched other videos of flux pinning? This sure looks like those to me, it's a weird phenomenon.
Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by jacquesm on Saturday August 05, 2023 @07:09PM (#37017121)
It's not that weird, it just looks weird if you don't have any idea of what is going on. But it's fairly logical if you get the principle behind it. Nullc's excellent video below shows a much clearer example.
Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by mcpackieh on Saturday August 05, 2023 @09:35AM (#37011869)
How can it look like something that is ostensibly invisible? It's no swinging around like a pendulum, so what exactly are you seeing that makes you think it looks like an invisible string?
Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by pera on Saturday August 05, 2023 @09:39AM (#37011903)
The thread is horizontally positioned, left to right, not vertically.
Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by gabesullice on Saturday August 05, 2023 @11:57AM (#37013274)
Finding a thread that small would be a feat of its own. I wonder if your eyes might be getting tricked by the watermark?
Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by mcpackieh on Saturday August 05, 2023 @01:12PM (#37014193)
But you haven't explained how it looks like that. It could be that, but it looks like it's floating. What is it about the appearance of this thing which has you believing there is a string?
Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by incrudible on Saturday August 05, 2023 @05:59PM (#37016675)
If there is a magician on the stage, you can safely presume there is no actual magic involved, even though you do not know how exactly the trick works.

For actual flux pinning, the first thing you would do is show what happens if you put the thing upside down. It should stick. Even if it does not, you would show that it does not.

Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by mcpackieh on Sunday August 06, 2023 @10:34AM (#37022392)
The point of the illusions in a good magicians act is that they look like magic. If the illusions look like invisible strings/etc, then they were poorly done. Even if you know there must be a string, it shouldn't look that way.

So what I'm saying is that even if it's reasonable to deduce that this supposed magnet is being suspended from a string, it doesn't look like it is. If it is fake, it's a well-done illusion not a shoddy illusion.

Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by incrudible on Sunday August 06, 2023 @11:53AM (#37023216)
Whether it "looks like it's on a string" is highly subjective. Suppose I primed you by saying: Look at this speck of dirt on a string, does it look like a speck of dirt on a string to you?

https://imgur.com/a/AY1oaIO

In all likelyhood, your answer would be: Yes, it does.

It's clear however that a lot of us (myself included) don't want to see a speck of dirt on a string. They want to see history in the making.

Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by Cushman on Saturday August 05, 2023 @09:50AM (#37012011)
What accounts for the smooth “settling” into place after the last touch around 10s?

I have no idea what I’m talking about, but in other flux pinning demonstrations the sample seems to oscillate around the fixed point. That smooth settling looks like some sort of damping, like maybe a force that increases with distance, like maybe spring tension.

(Of course, “we have no idea” is an acceptable answer if that turns out to be the case.)

Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by mcpackieh on Saturday August 05, 2023 @01:13PM (#37014205)
Air resistance seems like a reasonable explanation for the dampening. Furthermore if it's not pure and only partially superconducting, the dampening could be due to magnetic fields forming eddy currents in the sample.

> (Of course, “we have no idea” is an acceptable answer if that turns out to be the case.)

Of course.

Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by Cushman on Saturday August 05, 2023 @02:22PM (#37014932)
Good hypotheses both! “We’ve never been able to pin something this size before” covers a lot of wiggle room. So to speak.

(FWIW I’m thrilled about the possibility of a rtrp drop this year, and I have to assume 'pera is as well. But this video doesn’t look just like flux pinning we’ve seen before. It’s visibly a little different in a way that wants explanation. I wouldn’t come out the gate calling it a hoax, but I’d feel better about not doing that if the basis for skepticism were at least acknowledged.)

Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by tester457 on Saturday August 05, 2023 @10:43AM (#37012490)
This video describes quantum locking as strings going through a superconductor.

https://youtu.be/8GY4m022tgo?t=957

Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by nullc on Saturday August 05, 2023 @03:25PM (#37015478)
This is what a pinned superconductor looks like. Here is a video I made of some YCBO over a small magnet: https://nt4tn.net/random/superconductor.mp4 you can see it settle back back when I move it with tongs (until i push hard enough to get it to snap into a new orientation).

If I had a magnet that was much bigger than the superconductor it would look even more similar (less 'pivoty').

Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by jacquesm on Saturday August 05, 2023 @04:41PM (#37016107)
Excellent video, really very nice. I like it how you forced the flux pinning by punching a hole in the middle of the superconductor, that makes it all much more visible. You can practically visualize the fieldlines escaping through the middle and becoming an elastic pivot connected to the magnet.
Re:Flux Pinning in sample of LK-99 by sph on Sunday August 06, 2023 @06:36AM (#37020649)
If only all videos of LK-99 (and UFO sightings for that matter) came in such high, crisp resolution. Thanks.