It's been really difficult for me to figure this out. I'm not talking about a sheet of pyrolytic graphic which is immensely strong in one direction (regarding diamagnetic value), rather graphite powder.

 

Imagine putting powdered graphite in a glass of water and putting a strong magnet up against the glass. The force is weak, yes, but the graphite particles are very small -- which also lowers their reaction to magnetic fields. Yet they are also easy to move they are so tiny.

 

I don't understand how these all interact; would a sufficiently powerful (neodymium) magnet be enough to keep the graphite powder from sticking to the glass, or away from the edge? Or is this diamagnetic repulsive force simply too weak to do anything to graphite powder floating along / carried along in a fluid?

 

-- Dazed and Confused

It's been really difficult for me to figure this out. I'm not talking about a sheet of pyrolytic graphic which is immensely strong in one direction (regarding diamagnetic value), rather graphite powder.

 

Imagine putting powdered graphite in a glass of water and putting a strong magnet up against the glass. The force is weak, yes, but the graphite particles are very small -- which also lowers their reaction to magnetic fields. Yet they are also easy to move they are so tiny.

 

I don't understand how these all interact; would a sufficiently powerful (neodymium) magnet be enough to keep the graphite powder from sticking to the glass, or away from the edge? Or is this diamagnetic repulsive force simply too weak to do anything to graphite powder floating along / carried along in a fluid?

 

-- Dazed and Confused

You would need the advice of a real expert on this. Normal carbon is not magnetic. Fullerenes are as far as I can remember. And these are a manufactured form of carbon that has a permanent electric charge and so they would be weakly magnetic.

Sounds like it would be an interesting experiment. I've seen videos of people using magnets on graphite powder, not sure how it would do in a liquid. Might actually make it easier as would compensate for friction to a degree.