Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-4-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2012/paper-1/section-b/b7/solution

For a normal from medium 1 to 2, the magnetic boundary conditions are
Without a free surface current, tangential is continuous. To obtain the magnetization of a permeable sphere of radius and permeability , choose magnetic scalar potentials
Tangential continuity gives , and normal continuity gives . Hence
The fields are uniform inside. For negative susceptibility, magnetization is antiparallel to the applied field; the scalar formula retains its negative sign.
For a small weakly magnetic body, the induced magnetic energy is . The factor one-half accounts for building the induced moment. The vertical force is . Balancing gravity therefore gives
A diamagnet needs a field decreasing in magnitude with height for an upward force. For diamagnetic levitation in an inverse-height field,
The force falls as , giving a restoring vertical derivative at equilibrium. Full lateral stability would require the transverse field geometry, which is not specified.

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