Abstract

We consider the uniform motion of a short strong cylindrical magnet falling inside a conducting pipe and study the dependence of the magnetic braking force on the distance of the falling magnet from the pipe wall. We also consider two magnets falling together with parallel or opposite magnetic moments. We develop models for these three cases of magnetic braking and describe the experiments that validate our models. The experimental setups are inexpensive and can be readily assembled in a teaching laboratory. (C) 2011 American Association of Physics Teachers. [DOI: 10.1119/1.3531964]