Assistance with practical electromagnetism project

[Ian Lancaster]

Good afternoon,
I am carrying out a practical magnetism project which involves 2 small (2mm x 2mm - 0.6kg) neodymium magnets attached together, and an electromagnet to create a push-pull force from below in order to part them. For those that also build model railway/railroads, this will be a bespome wagon coupling system, and the electromagnet would be used as an uncoupling device. I have uploaded a picture explaining what I am attempting to achieve. The question concerns the power/pull size of the sucked electromagnet required to force the permanent magnets apart from around 10-20mm below the attached magnets. I have tried a 12v 2.5kg sucked electromagnet and it had zero effect even when almost touching the other magnets. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. This is for my own personal use and will not be used for commercial gain.

 

[kuruman]

Are you saying that the electromagnet is expected to push on one of the neodymium magnets and pull on the other as the arrows suggest in the picture? Suppose the top of the electromagnet is the "North" pole. Where are the North and South poles of the neodymium magnets? Can you label them in the picture?

 

[Ian Lancaster]

Hello there and thank you for replying. I will draw it tomorrow but basically the poles are on the flat surface of the round magnet. So the left magnet could be south and the right north. The electromagnet would attract one and repel the other due to the pole of the electromagnet. I don't know which is which and not sure how relevant the pole would be. The main question is the power or size of magnet to create enough attraction/repulsion to cause the magnets to part