Science projects - small and big

Congratulations Nate and Steven on your floating magnetic car science project. What a challenge it was to place the magnets in such a way so that the car would balance and slide along the track. You guys built 6 prototypes before finding a design that worked. Magnetic fields are tricky!

Yes, magnetic field ARE tricky! As this graduate student at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab explains. They have very bizarrely shaped electromagnets that are designed to hold the plasma in ways that prevent it from escaping the fusion reactor. They are still building prototypes (going on 50 years now) and trying to get a design that works!