When science made a frog “fly” and everyone panicked

In 2000, the famous 1997 levitating frog experiment won an Ig Nobel Prize, thanks to Dr. Andre Geim and his team, who discovered how to make a frog, a cricket and some plants float using magnetism. Geim would later win a real Nobel Prize for graphene, but that’s another story. Now let’s talk about flying frogs.

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Everything is at least a little magnetic. This is an important concept to understand before proceeding, as it is crucial to understanding how diamagnetism could lift a frog (and, in theory, a human) off the ground.

Metals like iron and cobalt tend to come to mind when we think of magnetic objects – and for good reason, because they exhibit strong magnetism. However, everything has a magnetic field. Some are simply stronger than others.

When atoms and electrons move around each other, they create a field that (when placed, for example, in one of the world’s most powerful electromagnets) can repel opposing forces. This is a quantum mechanical effect called diamagnetism that can occur with any object: living or inanimate, frog or cricket.

Geim and his colleagues put this theory to the test in 1997 by inserting a frog into the throat of a high-field magnet and, surprise, surprise, the amphibian flew away like a floating deity.

The levitating amphibian was so popular that it earned Geim and his colleagues Ig Nobeldrawing more attention to the experience. Following this, they started receiving all kinds of requests – including, as they said NPRthe leader of a small religious group in England “who offered us a million pounds if we could levitate him in front of his congregation to improve his public relations.”

If you’re worried about the floating frog and its fellow participants, you’ll be happy to know that the experiment had no negative side effects on its living subjects. In addition to making amphibians celebrities, diamagnetic levitation has applications in industry and research, including the effects of weightlessness, because floating living things here on Earth costs less than sending them into space.

As for levitating a human, an insightful YouTube video from SciShow believes it’s possible, but space limitations (about the size of a bagel) mean most machines don’t have room. Scientists are still working with this technology, including improving our understanding of drugs by levitating cells.

Do you still dream of taking off? You could always try that flying car, or if that doesn’t float your boat, how about a hoverboard?