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Physicist Andre Geim demonstrated the diamagnetic levitation of water and live animals, including a frog, using a strong magnetic field. He won the Ig Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 and later the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for his research on graphene. The levitating frog image caused confusion as many thought it was an April Fools’ Day prank.
A diamagnetic substance repels a magnetic field, and this quantum mechanical effect occurs in all materials, depending on the strength of the magnetic field. Physicist Andre Geim proved this point in 1997, when research for him led to a demonstration of the diamagnetic levitation of water and, funnier, the levitation of a live frog. Because water is predominantly diamagnetic, Geim was able to levitate water droplets using a very strong magnetic field, typically in the 16 tesla range. He went on to demonstrate the universality of this result by levitating several live animals, including a grasshopper and a mouse.
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a levitating frog:
Geim won the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics for his diagmagnetic research, including the floating frog, which was not harmed. “In my experience, if people don’t have a sense of humor, they usually aren’t very good scientists either,” he said. Geim would later win the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for his research on graphene.
The flying frog image made the rounds after photos appeared in the April 1997 issue of Physics World. Many thought it was April Fools’ Day.
Prior to Geim’s research, many believed that the magnetism of water, billions of times weaker than that of iron, was not strong enough to resist gravity.
