Uploaded January 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Entered into our 2019 ZEISS Photography Competition by PhD student Jan Srpcic.
A magnet levitates atop a bulk superconductor, its surface hidden under a layer of mist.
The superconductor is submerged in a liquid nitrogen bath to keep below its critical temperature. When in the superconducting state, a material will resist any changes in external magnetic field, providing a levitation force to the magnet.
The top surface of the superconductor is exposed to the atmosphere but is kept at about -196 degrees Celsius, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. Since oxygen has a higher boiling point at -183 degrees Celsius, it will condense from the atmosphere and form a droplet on the superconductor surface. Being paramagnetic, the oxygen droplet will then be attracted to the levitating magnet and will eventually ascend to the magnet.
This video is taken at the precise moment when the attraction from the magnet overcomes the surface tension and gravitational force of the droplet, which itself forms a pillar between magnet and superconductor.
Entered into our 2019 ZEISS Photography Competition by PhD student Jan Srpcic.
A magnet levitates atop a bulk superconductor, its surface hidden under a layer of mist.
The superconductor is submerged in a liquid nitrogen bath to keep below its critical temperature. When in the superconducting state, a material will resist any changes in external magnetic field, providing a levitation force to the magnet.
The top surface of the superconductor is exposed to the atmosphere but is kept at about -196 degrees Celsius, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. Since oxygen has a higher boiling point at -183 degrees Celsius, it will condense from the atmosphere and form a droplet on the superconductor surface. Being paramagnetic, the oxygen droplet will then be attracted to the levitating magnet and will eventually ascend to the magnet.
This video is taken at the precise moment when the attraction from the magnet overcomes the surface tension and gravitational force of the droplet, which itself forms a pillar between magnet and superconductor.
