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Whether an object will or will not levitate in a magnetic field B is defined by the balance between the magnetic force F = MB and gravity mg = V g where is the material density, V is the volume and g = 9.8m/s2. The magnetic moment M = (/ µ0)VB so that F = (/µ0)BVB = (/2µ0)VB2. Therefore, the vertical field gradient B2 required for levitation has to be larger than 2µ0 g/. Molecular susceptibilities are typically 10-5 for diamagnetics and 10-3 for paramagnetic materials and, since is most often a few g/cm3, their magnetic levitation requires field gradients ~1000 and 10 T2/m, respectively. Taking l = 10cm as a typical size of high-field magnets and B2 ~ B2/l as an estimate, we find that fields of the order of 1 and 10T are sufficient to cause levitation of para- and diamagnetics. This result should not come as a surprise because, as we know, magnetic fields of less than 0.1T can levitate a superconductor (= -1) and, from the formulas above, the magnetic force increases as B2. from

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Originally posted by Dave W.

There really shouldn't be any physiological effects, just like there aren't any with an MRI.

Hehehe - fun with numbers: As Ben Goldacre stated, the basic set-up for frog levitation will run about $100 grand. To levitate a human, it'd take much more money, and about a gigawatt of continuous power. A gigawatt for a second is about 277.8 kilowatt-hours. So, if they put it in a theme park in the northern mid-west, the electricity cost alone would run about $17,138.89 per second at retail rates, or somewhat over a million bucks a minute. An expensive ride, to say the least.

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