Rocket ScientistLevitating Feather

 

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Professor Flitwick uses a magic wand to float a feather.

Try this experiment with science-based levitation.

StarWhat you need:

  • 12 inch piece of aquarium tubing
  • the plastic part of a medicine dropper
  • feather
  • Attach the tubing to the medicine dropper.
  • Aim the end of the medicine dropper under the feather, and blow through the tubing.
  • You should be able to float a feather against the force of gravity by the force of the air stream.
  • Try floating a ping pong ball in the air!
  • What you need:
  • blow dryer
  • ping pong ball
  • heavy books

StarWhat do you do?

  1. Place the blow dryer on the floor with the blower side up.
  2. Stack the books on either side of the blow dryer so that the blow dryer will be steady.
  3. Plug in the blow dryer.
  4. Turn on the dryer.
  5. Carefully place the ping pong ball over the stream of air. Let go.

StarHow does it work?

The science behind the spell: The air on the left side of the ball is moving faster than on the right side, where the air isn't moving. The faster the air moves, the less pressure is exerted on the left side of the ball. The pressure on the right side of the ball has not changed. There is less pressure on the left side of the ball; so the ball will move toward the left.

No matter which side the ball is pushed, it will gravitate toward the center of the air stream, and stay balanced.

This is an example of the Bernoulli principle. The Bernoulli principle states that the moving air exerts less pressure on the ball than the side with the still air.

Now try a magic trick to levitate a feather!

StarWhat you need:

  • feather
  • 8 to 12 inch piece of invisible thread--You can use a thread from a pair of old black panty hose
  • super glue
  • magic wand

StarWhat do you do?

  1. Glue one end of the thread to the feather and the other end of the feather to your wand.
  2. Before your audience arrives, lay the feather on a table and place the wand on the table next to it.
  3. To begin your trick, raise the magic wand (not too far!) above the feather, and say "Wingardium Leviosa!"
  4. After you pronounce the magic spell, raise your wand higher to lift the feather off of the table.

adapted from Scholastic's Instructor Magazine, May/June 2005.