MAGLEV TRAIN
Have you ever heard of a floating train? It's true there are real floating trains. They are called Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) trains. Maglev trains are the fastest trains in the world! Have you ever used magnets and they stick together or attract. Well, they also repel or push away from each other. These trains use the repelling force of magnets to stay in the air. So they don't even have wheels and don't touch the track. Not only are these the world's fastest trains, they are the most eviormentally safe and most efficient train but also the most expensive.
In 5th grade I had a project to do for school named capstone. You could choose any topic and you had to make a exhibit on it. I chose trains! Once I found out about Maglev trains I started to go hours into researching only Maglev trains. A few days before my exhibit was due I decided to make a model of the a Maglev train. I used the schools new 3D printer to print out the train. I was the first student in the school use the 3D printer! It took a day before my teacher and I were able to get it to work. We started to print it the next day and it took 8 hours to print our a little plastic train. Once it was done printing, I put on neodymium magnets (one of the strongest magnets) on a piece of wood I glued under the train. Now it was time to do the track. I started by gluing the two biggest pieces together. The very bottom piece and the piece where the magnetic tape is laying on. Then on the top piece we glued a separator to separate the two pieces of magnetic tape. Now I taped on the magnetic tape. After that I glued on the plexiglass and the last piece of wood to stop the train from going off the ends.
It worked! Well, it did work, but only for a couple of days. I didn't realize, but a strong rare earth magnet can change the polarity of ferris magnet that is left repelling for a long time (More). After a few days the train started to attract instead of repel because the neodymium magnets were too strong for the magnetic tape. Every time we used we have to change the tape unless if I can get neodymium magnetic tape.
In 5th grade I had a project to do for school named capstone. You could choose any topic and you had to make a exhibit on it. I chose trains! Once I found out about Maglev trains I started to go hours into researching only Maglev trains. A few days before my exhibit was due I decided to make a model of the a Maglev train. I used the schools new 3D printer to print out the train. I was the first student in the school use the 3D printer! It took a day before my teacher and I were able to get it to work. We started to print it the next day and it took 8 hours to print our a little plastic train. Once it was done printing, I put on neodymium magnets (one of the strongest magnets) on a piece of wood I glued under the train. Now it was time to do the track. I started by gluing the two biggest pieces together. The very bottom piece and the piece where the magnetic tape is laying on. Then on the top piece we glued a separator to separate the two pieces of magnetic tape. Now I taped on the magnetic tape. After that I glued on the plexiglass and the last piece of wood to stop the train from going off the ends.
It worked! Well, it did work, but only for a couple of days. I didn't realize, but a strong rare earth magnet can change the polarity of ferris magnet that is left repelling for a long time (More). After a few days the train started to attract instead of repel because the neodymium magnets were too strong for the magnetic tape. Every time we used we have to change the tape unless if I can get neodymium magnetic tape.