Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Magnetic spaceship

Using a strong bar magnet and earth's magnetic field to propel a spaceship
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We all know that the earth has a strong magnetic field. It's geographic south pole is its magnetic north pole and vice versa. If we place a strong bar magnet inside a spaceship and place the spaceship in Antarctica, it is theoreticallly possible that the spaceship will be propelled into space due to repulsion between the south pole of the spaceship and the south pole of the earth. Will this take place in real life?
Abhishek Sundar, Aug 08 2004

Belatedly,for [Road Show], who created an account in 2007, annoed on 7 ideas but never posted any. http://www.azlyrics...ehoodratfriend.html
A great song by The Hold Steady [normzone, Sep 26 2013]

The song on youtube http://www.youtube....watch?v=UP8xL5dbJio
From the comments: "A hoodrat is a girl who sleeps around with all the guys in the neighborhood... She is usually homeless and sleeping on different couches each night, she is usually into hard drugs and is not very well kept (dirty clothes, dirty hair, etc.)" [normzone, Sep 26 2013]

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       I don't think this would work... the magnet on the spaceship would be small compared to the magnetic field of the Earth, so the north and south poles of the spaceship magnet would cancel out with respect to Earth's large magnetic field. like the dipole effect.
xaviergisz, Aug 08 2004
  

       I don't think a substance with a field strong enough to lift its own weight exists, let along a spaceship.
5th Earth, Aug 08 2004
  

       I was going to post an idea about launching an electromagnetic parachute from one of the Earth’s poles until I did a bit of reading and found out just how weak the Earth's magnetic field is. I have to croissant the thought though.   

       interesting...use a superconductor to generate a huge magnetic field. but MRI machines don't unexpectedly lift off, so I dunno...   

       would the spaceship tend to just flip around rather than lift off?
sninctown, May 30 2006
  

       if you take a magnet and freeze it to as close to absolute it will no longer magnetize to metal it will actualy levetaite if you look closer to the magnet you can faintly see what looks like an atmospheric ring around the magnet witch gave me ideas for an electromagnetic force feild not a space ship you would have to use one planet as a pull for your ship as well as another planet as you push like spiderman uses his webb spinner to swing from on duilding to the next bridge your talking of building a ship the size of a star and able to magneticly reach not just another planet but another star or galaxy
bushy, Aug 06 2007
  

       I believe the gravitational force of the Earth is considerably stronger than its magnetic field.
marklar, Aug 06 2007
  

       //We all know that the earth has a strong magnetic field.//   

       Um, no, we don't. It's very, very weak.   

       I have to buy a specially-made device, called a compass, to detect the earth's magnetic field, and my car, which shouldn't have a magnetic field at all, completely screws that up. But my car doesn't levitate.   

       This idea is bad science and not even new, sadly.
baconbrain, Aug 06 2007
  

       A quandary has occurred to me, as follows.   

       The earth has a largely iron core, which also has a modest degree of magnetization, yes?   

       If the magnetization were strong, then clearly a magnetic spaceship would be repelled if it were large enough, and if it were facing the right way (opposite poles repel). This would be just like two regular magnets repelling eachother.   

       If the magnetization were nonexistent, then a magnetic spaceship would, instead, be attracted to the earth (just as a fridge magnet is attracted to your fridge).   

       So, there must be some intermediate point between no magnetisation and strong magnetisation, at which there would be no net force on the spaceship, no?   

       This feels wrong intuitively - that the force should flip from attraction to repulsion as the strength of the magnetic field increases smoothly.   

       Help?
MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 06 2007
  

       The earth's iron core is very hot. Very hot iron cannot be magnetized. The magnetic field of the earth is produced by electrical currents conducted within the earth. I am not sure why there are electrical currents in the earth, but there you go.
bungston, Aug 06 2007
  

       OK, but the basic argument remains: a magnet would be repelled by a strongly magnetized lump of iron (if in the appropriate orientation), but attracted by a non-magnetized lump; where would the transition point be, and why?
MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 06 2007
  

       //...just [as] a fridge magnet is attracted to your fridge...//   

       I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this...I have a fridge magnet that is attracted to my range hood. Is this wrong?
Road Show, Aug 06 2007
  

       [Typo fixed, thanks]   

       Is it a young fridge magnet? Has it has much social contact with others of its species?
MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 06 2007
  

       Is a range hood the rural equivalent of a hood rat?
normzone, Aug 06 2007
  

       Yes, no, and "what's a hood rat?", respectively, to the above questions.
Road Show, Aug 06 2007
  

       Sninctown, was on the right track. Your looking to create a 'superconductor' on your spaceship.   

       They would have to be pretty powerful and need a heap of power and some more neat ideas.   

       Maybe place the some ceramic super conductors inside of a pastic cyrogenic capsules, heavily insulated they'll stay crispy cold for longer. Initally they would be huge, but given some thought the size would come down.   

       We're on track to find 'super conductors' that don't need to be cold.   

       Yes, this is old science.   

       Have fun
Vex, Jan 10 2009
  

       [Abhishek Sundar] created an account on August 6 2004, posted this idea two days later, and was never heard from again. Did he find some way to make this idea work, but was unable to return home?
normzone, Sep 26 2013
  

       // August 6 2004 //   

       August 9 2004, we heard a thump on the Cube's hull ... err ... ooops ?   

       Did he have insurance ?
8th of 7, Sep 26 2013
  

       //it is theoretically possible that the spaceship will be propelled into space// [marked-for-tagline]
theircompetitor, Sep 26 2013
  
      
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