Why Do Levitron Spinning Tops Vary in Levitation Time?

[Chen]

So has anyone got this little toy?
http://www.levitron.com/
I bought it a while ago, played with it for half an hour and gave up. It was too hard, at least for me, to get it adjusted correctly and everything. But tonight I found it again and this time it works pretty well. Still can't get it to levitate for more than 10-15 seconds, but it's something! Has anyone had more success? What are the secrets? And why do the results vary so widely between one attempt and the other, even when I don't change the settings?

Edit: Well, I just managed to make it levitate for like 40 seconds. That was neat. Now I can die peacefully.

 

[UrbanXrisis]

My friend and I were talking about it and he told me that some guy in Rhode Island found a way to make two forces, with the same charge, repell each other with balance. For example, if you tried to balance a positive magnet on top of another positive one, the magnet would fall off. It would not stay balanced. But, this guy found that by spinning the magnet, it gives balance and therefore the rotation of the top balances, making it seem like it is floating. When the top doesn't have enough force to keep spinning, obviously it will tip to one side and fall

 

[niehls]

i don't know if this thread is "dead" or not. But if you're still interested, i can give you some advice. I bought one today for my friend's birthday and i played with it for a while. You need to adjust the weight so that it just manages to lift off. That's the only hard part. Once you figure out the right weight (different for different locations and temperature, i use 2.3 grams plus one rubber grommet) it's pretty easy to adjust the leveling so that it levitates. it's also important to lift it slowly. let it lift by itself.. this way i made my levitron levitate for about 5 minutes or something.. good luck