How to move metal elements via magnetic waves?

[mowpsi]

I'm a computer engineer. I don't have any experiences in electronics and tring to find an anser to the question:

Is it possible to generate magnetic waves to move a metal (very light metal - max 1-2gr)? I drawed the hardware which i want on the following picture:magnetic waves move metals



I have to enter the coordinations of a metal on table in Hardware X and Hardware X should move the given metal to left or right. The distance between the metal elemnt and Hardware X is minimum 1 meter.

So where to start?

 

[Easy peasy]

your best bet is a plastic table with electromagnets under neath - then yes - technically possible - and not to hard

the size of the electromagnet needed fro what you propose is far too large ( heavy ) to be feasible ...

 

[wwfeldman]

you might be able to move a small object (that can be attracted to a magnet - iron, nickel, tin, but not copper or aluminum) with a strong enough magnet from a meter away.
BUT:
it is more likely that the object would jump to the magnet, not move along the table.
we know that strong magnetic fields can pull some metals (as above, those that are attracted to magnets) long distances
that's why you have to remove all metal when getting an MRI(?) CAT Scan (?)

you want a table with no metal, since you don't want the table pulled to the magnet

you can do the magnet under the table trick, as Easy peasy says
(still don't want metal under the table, as the magnet under the table will "stick" to the frame)

there is no such thing as a magnetic wave
but there are electromagnetic waves - what most people call radio waves, microwaves and light, etc.
if you could broadcast a large enough (radio) signal, then the tiny current induced in a receiving antenna
may, in the earth's magnetic field, cause the antenna to oscillate enough to see and or measure
but I don't think you'll move it along the table, and there are a whole list of technical difficulties, including the
power needed to broadcast a strong enough signal

 

[BradtheRad]

A grid of electromagnets under the table might do the job. Make the metal piece globe-shaped, or else floating on water. Turn on a nearby electromagnet to attract the metal piece. The table must be a substance that doesn't block magnetism.

 

[Kajunbee]

You say that you will be entering the coordinates. If that's the case you could have a CNC machine type setup. You could use a much smaller electromagnetic also.

 

[Easy peasy]

a matrix of electromagnets under the table with 100Hz pulsing to control the speed of attraction etc ( PWM ) ...

 

[Nik_2213]

I've seen some 'magic' tricks that relied on a mobile magnet under table, though I cannot recall detail or source.

One, IIRC, was technically a home-brewed 'linear motor', hidden in a plywood pasting table's shallow cavity...

Tangentially, our lab used several 'motor-less' stirrers, including a couple of big, flat-plate units that could stir several dozen, plastic flat-base tubes at a time for an XYZ sampling robot. Their immersible (!!) platters used a matrix of coils, think 'simple stepper motors', and rice-sized magnetic followers, one per tube...

( As those 'followers' were small enough to pass sink-strainers, 'gone fishing' with a long, slim magnetic retriever became regular exercise. Plan_B required mask, gloves and bucket to empty the U-bend's trap... )

 

[FvM]

None of the answers seemed to refer to the requirement to move the metal parts by an apparatus at least 1m apart. This is impossible if we sort out huge supraconducting magnets.

 

[kripacharya]

It is interesting to note that unlike other 'force fields' which diminish in strength as the square of distance, a magnetic field degrades much more rapidly - of the order of at least cube of distance. Actual formula is tricky, and I believe complicated due to the non-existence of a magnetic monopole.

This is one reason why magnetic at large distance are not practical for such tasks.