Measurements with cellphone Magnetometer and scale and observations of large compass floating in water

Measurements with cellphone Magnetometer and digital kitchen food scale and observations of large compass floating in water

      I got a few cellphone Magnetometer apps to make some rough measurements.

      The units of measure of magnetism are microTesla or uT. One uT equals 0.01 Gauss.
At my location in the state of NY the Earth's field is 52 uT. However this is the entire force referred to as F and its vector mostly points into the ground at about a 66 degree angle. So the actual force pointing north is 19 uT or what is referred to as the X measurement.

      Before I go into farther detail let me give my results. The results were that the Earth's magnetic field was powerful enough to push or pull a magnet by attraction or repulsion with enough force to make a little boat travel in a water tank.

      Why this is not immediately obvious is because the magnet must be oriented in such a direction that it does not turn freely like a compass and align with Earth's magnetic poles at which position it will have no push or pull.

      Let me use the Levitron toy as an example of this. The top on the classic version of the Levitron weighs 60 grams approximately. Because due to the gyroscope effect of the top spinning it is able to push away from the magnet in the base with enough force against gravity to hover over 1 inch high. But if it is not spinning than it will simply line up with the north and south poles of the magnet in the base and sit on its side with no evident sign of propulsion against gravity.

      I took one N42 0.5 inch diameter by 0.25 inch length neodymium magnet and measured from various distances in uT on the Magnetometer. At 12 inches it measured approximately 2 uT. At 3 inches it measured 225 uT.

      Next I set up a scale with a similar magnet on it and held the N42 over it to see when it would repel at 1 gram approximately. That distance was 3 inches approximately.

      Next I set up an aluminum pan filled with water with a Styrofoam disc floating in it. I placed a stack of 14 of the N42 magnets along a diameter of the Styrofoam disc in effect creating a giant compass. This pointed north. I measured a rough estimate of when the Styrofoam disc would move as I moved an N42 magnet towards it from various points around it.

      The Styrofoam disc floating in the water with the 14 N42 magnets on it rotated a little and then either moved towards the magnet I held or away from it very visibly from distances over 12 inches.

      So for starters we can conclude that a magnetic force of only 2 uT is enough to move the magnetic boat through the water.

      Next we can conclude that Earth's magnetic force since it is 10 times that amount of course can move a properly designed boat.

      I won't say how fast or slowly but will state that it will apply a force that causes continuous acceleration taking into account other factors such as friction in the water and nearby magnetic or ferrous objects.

      Now since we have observed that 225 uT presses 1 gram force to the magnet on the scale we need to somehow extrapolate what that gram force is at 19 uT. (Earth's magnetism at my location)

      I am just going to take a guess that the relationship between microTesla and gram force is directly proportional. So since 19/225 is approximately 0.1 or a little less that is the amount of gram force the Earth's magnet (magnetic field) is pushing against the Styrofoam magnetic boat which is constructed with 14 stacked N42 0.5 inch diameter by 0.25 inch neodymium magnets.