Can a solenoid launcher work with aluminum soda cans?

[rwa2008]

As a college student I have a lot of extra soda cans around I thought it would be neat to tryto have some fun with them. What I would like to do is make some sort of solenoid or system of solenoids that would launch a soda can. What I am wondering is if an aluminum can is afected at all by the magnetic field in a soda can. I know aluminum is not affected by magnetism at all but someone told me that all it has to do is some sort of disruption to the magnetic field inside the solenoid.

 

[saikatmajumder]

there is a famous experiment for Lenz's law. If you put a loose aluminium ring around the iron core protruding out of a solenoid, the aluminium ring will be projected out. It is necessary to supply solenoid with AC current. You can try something similar and search on this expt in internet.

 

[willib]

My physics teacher did that very experiment for us..
He launched an aluminum ring into the air..
i wish i had some more info on the experiment , but at the time i thought it was cool..