[AaronBurns]

This idea is about a magnetic ball bearing floating inside an electro-magnetic bowl. An iron bowl is plugged into a wall outlet making it a one charge bowl with a polished iron ball bearing of the opposite charge that will be lifted by the bowl's magnetic properties. Since the magnet floating the ball is in a ball shape, the ball can not escape the magnet's upward push and wont jump out of the bowl if the bowl is large enough and the ball bearing is heavy enough. It would spin and float and never touch anything. Always floating and moving but, never outside the bowl due to the heavy weight of the magnetized ball bearing and never touching any surface at all and always in the air.

Reward: Credit

[Steve]

Aaron, are you sure the description is about a desk?

[AaronBurns]

Let's describe it as a magnetic Ball Bearing floating inside an Electro-Magnetic Bowl.
This actually does work. (The product; that is).

[Steve]

Sorry but I honestly don't understand - a desk floating in a bowl? How? Where? Why?

[AaronBurns]

Just forget about the Desk. There is no Desk involved.
It just sits on one.
Over here all the office workers have entertaining objects to mess with ON-TOP of their desks.
So, just an Iron Bowl that is plugged into a wall outlet making it a one charge Bowl with a polished Iron Ball Bearing of the opposite charge that will be lifted by the bowl's magnetic properties.
Since the magnet floating the ball is in a ball shape, the ball can not escape the magnet's upward push and wont jump out of the bowl if the bowl is large enough and the ball bearing is heavy enough.
As an end note; don't ask me why all office desks have items like this on them. I guess working at a desk job is extremely boring.

[Original description edited by Steve according to this post]

[agent]

Let's describe it as a magnetic Ball Bearing floating inside an Electro-Magnetic Bowl.
This actually does work. (The product; that is).

Is a referance to the ball bearing shot at me? Pook away.
http://creativitypool.com/viewtopic.php?t=1765

Why has my posting to the IdeasHappen.com web site not showen up yet? Competation is a good thing. Why are you censoring information here?
http://ideashappen.msn.com/

Other posts I have done.
http://creativitypool.com/search.php?se ... thor=agent

A new product that has changed my life.
http://revdeck.com/

Open and free media.
http://creativecommons.org

I am agent here
http://www.archive.org/movies/movies.php
http://slashdot.org/~agent

I will be voting for John Kerry, and I will contiue to fund the FreeNet project.

This was writing on the wall in a skateboard video I saw this weekend while I took 3 of my bosses 10 kids to one of the two local indoor skateboard parks.

“No raceism
No war.”

Have fun, get stuff done.
-Steve

[Steve]

Agent, I little bit of off-topic rambling is fine, but please keep it to a proportionate amount. If what you have to say is totally unrelated, feel free to go to the "Sea of Chaos" forum and post it there. Thanks!

[agent]

Duly noted.

Have a great day,
-Steve
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=duly
The r=2 part in the URL above means that it took me two tries to get the spelling of duly right.

[Rishi]

I am sure that it will be an interesting gadget on the desk for techies. However, it may not be realizable as suggested. Many variants of such gadgets are available already. All are based on magnetic repulsion coupled with gyroscopic stabilization.

The problem is that it is not possible to get a ball to have a single magnetic pole (North or South). Same goes for the bowl. . Both the ball and the bowl will have both poles. This will lead to a highly unstable situation.

It may be possible to have static electric charges in the configuration suggested, which will produce the same visual effect.

Incidentally opposite poles attract; like poles repel. The gadget will work only if both objects are the same polarity.

Rishi

[AaronBurns]

An electro magnet can have one polarity when electricity is applied.
When the ball bearing shows the opposite polarity and starts to stick to the bowl the bowl can change polarity and immediately push the ball bearing back up. The switch to check the change in polarity can be purchased at any local electronics store.
What I had meant to say in the original statement in the first place was the ball bearing and the electro magnet oppose each other with the same polarity. Sorry about getting that backwards.
Now, with that fix to the idea, what do you say? Still a pretty cool tool, Huh?

[AaronBurns]

I have seen the other magnetic devices out there but, I have never seen a free floating one. Have you?

[AaronBurns]

Fisrt of all there are no free floating electro magnetic or static electric charged devices out there yet.
There are problems with your Static Electric charged idea in that it would not hold up any amount of weight. It might work on a small piece of mylar but, not metal. If you increase the amount of static electricity then you would be severely shocked by the object.
It would be like having a stun gun on your desk holding up a piece of a mylar balloon. Who would want that?

[AaronBurns]

Steve will post the idea in corrected form in a few days.
Now, it was embarassing but, I really made it work this time around.
You were right about the idea and it took a little extra work to fix it so, when you see the corrected version, please reply to that version of it.
Thanks

P.S. - Ignore the idea in current form until you see the fixed idea.