Fig. 3.

Energy and orientation of objects in MagLev. (A) Plot of the potential energy as a function of α (the angle that $\overrightarrow{p}$ makes with respect to the z′ axis) (Eq. 2). R is the ratio of the second moment of area of the object. For R < 1, continuous black line, the two (degenerate) minima in potential energy occur at α = 90° and 270^o. For R > 1, dashed and dotted black line, the two (degenerate) minima in potential energy occur at α = 0° and 180°. When R approaches 1, the linear theory predicts a flat energy landscape. The schematic at the top of the plot shows the orientation of the object with respect to z′. (B) Plot of α versus R for the experimental objects in Fig. 2. All of the data collapse onto a master curve with the transition in orientation at R = 1.