Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Enchanted electromagnetic earth

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The 24th International Book Fair is on this week in Jerusalem. It happens every two years and it is always a pleasure to experience.
Yesterday I saw LOTS of books, but one exhibitor was promoting maps and globes.
Don't you just love maps and globes?!


But I did a double-take when I noticed one globe was levitating as if by magic:


"How does that work??" I asked the seller lady.
Like a magician proving there were no strings attached, she instinctively passed her hand above the globe. She was flustered when the earth suddenly fell out of orbit.
But she did know to tell me that it was held up by an electromagnet.

Back home, I found this explanation at ThinkGeek:
"A magnetic field sensor continually measures the height at which the globes are suspended. This sensor feeds that data into a micro computer in the base of the unit. This computer then calibrates the electronic magnets at the top of the frame based on the distance between the globes and the top magnet to keep the globes correctly positioned."

Pretty cool, eh?
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The ABC Wednesday group (join us!) is celebrating the letter E tonight.
Hope you enjoyed the enchanting electromagnetic earth globe. Come back tomorrow for more about the Jerusalem Book Fair.
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30 comments:

  1. I also love globes ans maps. The problem is that maps change every time. Frontiers are never the same.
    Some years ago my Dutch grandson was doing a three- dimensional puzzle which was a globe. It was great fun.

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  2. I do love globes. I always had a giant one is my bedroom when I was growing up. My brother and I would look at it and wonder what it would be like to live in those other countries. I never, ever, in my wildest dreams thought I'd get to visit them.

    That floating globe would really be something to have in any classroom to strike a sense of wonder.

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  3. I like globes and maps. That floating globe is really fabulous.

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  4. wow Dina,
    nice this worldglobes and the electromagical earth is really my favo, how are you doing ?

    Happy ABC
    from JoAnn's D Eyes/Holland

    www.joannwalraven.blogspot.com

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  5. Lovely E-post! How great would that be to have an electromagnetic globe on your desk :-O

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  6. Don't trust people playing with a globe in their hand (cf Charlie Chaplin's movie).

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  7. Does it work the same with our Blue Planet ? Hope God won't pass His large hand above ! : )

    I love these globes. My son gets one, it is just speaking, telling us the name of Capitals ! It is enchanted too, in its own way! Yes Dina, it succeeds to learn a little bit of geography to my son !

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  8. maps and globes are great. I like to collect maps. I have seen one of those levitating globes.
    It was way cool.

    An Arkies Musings

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  9. I also love globes and old maps.As a child I used to love to spin the globe in our house,and see where it stopped.Nice post.

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  10. Funny that the seller lady made the globe fall out of orbit. An electromagnetic globe would be fun to have. I want one!

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  11. I also have a love affair with globes and have coveted a levitating one - unfortunately too expensive. Or maybe it's fortunate! My house is already too full of things.

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  12. Also e for educational. We have a globe that lights up certain land masses. The globs of my youth are certainly differen to now.

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  13. "Don't you just love maps and globes?!"
    Yes! ;-) Aloha

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  14. it's a dream for me to come in your town perhaps one day, thanks for give us a little dream whith your picture!!

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  15. I love globes, and would have loved to have one of the floating ones in my classroom, too. Your photos are great as always! Thanks for sharing!

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  16. Very interesting post and yes I do love maps...and really love book fairs.

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  17. I love maps and always had a world map hanging the bathroom when my kids were little. Globes are cool too.

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  18. The Earth acts like a magnet, so somehow it is fitting. But personally I have problem reading all those little letters unless the globe is VERY BIG!

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  19. They are magic those. We have a couple of globes at work that have real time projection of satellite images on their surface (from the inside, obviously) and they are wonderful.

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  20. Wow! That is so cool and VERY interesting. Kaishon would LOVE something like that : ). What a great thing to get at a book fair! And way to go with 3 E's in your title. How cool are you? : ).

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  21. HI!
    WOW!! That's an awesome globe to have. The kids would love that! Have a great day!!

    Sherrie

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  22. I love maps and globes! My husband would love the electromagnetic one.

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  23. Yes I like maps and globes, I like Google Earth also.
    The magnetic globe is cool indeed.

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  24. I do love globes! And I love those magical magnetic hovering things, too!

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  25. I had one of these once.
    A good choice.

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  26. Very clever of you to use such great examples of electromagnetics. I too love globes and maps. My best find was at a yard sale where I purchased for $1 an imaculate old globe where Israel is still Palestine.
    Thanks for sharing!

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  27. i am a map lover too - this is just up my alley

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