Simple Magnetic Ring Launcher

Simple, no frills magnetic ring launcher illustrating Lenz's Law. Mains power, 60Hz, 120V, solid iron core. Cell phone slow-mo.

[kreynolds]

Because atoms have mass, the magnetic domains can not flip at the speed of light. This means changes in the magnetic field travel down the rod at velocities much less than the speed of light. This also happens because the rod's self inductance.

Imagine if the rod were longer and submerged deep in sea water, and fed an AC current. The water would provide cooling and thus traveling magnetic wave would induce some small ionic currents in the sea water on a much smaller scale than the copper pipe in the video. But, the steel rod can be very much longer giving very much more opportunity to generate magnetic induction thrust against the ionic currents in sea water.