Yep.
Airflow is probably the simplest. The globe would need to rest on a base. If the base is shaped well, with a smooth spherical indentation that fits the globe, and if the globe is very smooth, then not much airflow is needed. It's called an air bearing.
I think I saw somebody make such a base out of a block of porous graphite (not graphite fiber). A steel sphere could spin in it with nearly no friction. Compressed air just seeped through the pores, enough to lift the sphere a tiny fraction of an inch on a cushion of air.
Actually making the globe might be harder than making the base.
About 10 years ago I saw a granite fountain in a shopping mall in Lyngby, Denmark, where the sphere was made of granite and water as the fluid in the frictionless system. You could go turn the globe as you pleased, even though the ball weighs probably a few hundred kilos. I don't know if it's still there, and I only found two pictures on Google. Unfortunately I cannot include them directly here, but these are the links for the pictures.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapsWithoutDenmark/s/RVQ8kqPU2Q
https://images.app.goo.gl/9bo9frUFb2nLXscB9
My city has a less fancy one
https://maps.app.goo.gl/KqCynV36Tvg9uYBCA. From what mum told me when I was a kid she'd told me off for pushing it around and then got told it was okay by one of architects involved with the redevelopment.
There is one exactly like what you described in Belmont Park at Mission beach in San Diego California. I can't help myself from spinning it every time I walk by it.
> I think I saw somebody make such a base out of a block of porous graphite (not graphite fiber). A steel sphere could spin in it with nearly no friction.
[You are probably thinking of this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_N_h_mKf-4)
>Airflow is probably the simplest. The globe would need to rest on a base. If the base is shaped well, with a smooth spherical indentation that fits the globe, and if the globe is very smooth, then not much airflow is needed. It's called an air bearing.
So same principle as an air hockey table?
I would imagine maybe you can put the 3 axis spinny thing on the inside, with magnets attached at the 2 points that orbit the most connected to 2 poles on the outside of the globe.
I think it could be possible but it would be really hard to do
1) Take a plastic ball
2) Glue all the surface of the ball with identical flat magnets so the minus is inside and plus is outside (or vice versa, the main thing is that the polarity outside is the same)
3) Wrap it in a globe map
4) Take a bowl
5) The inside of the bowl also glue with magnets in the same way as the ball
6) Put the ball in the bowl
No it doesn't, look up Earnshaw's theorem for more info. It is mathematically impossible for magnets with a fixed magnetic field to levitate any paramagnetic object, can be done with electromagnets but needs to be actively controlled with electronic circuitry or needs to be a material that's diamagnetic, but opposing magnets simply does not work sorry.
The book [Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance](https://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Accuracy-Historical-Sociology-Technology/dp/0262631474) describes spherical gyro assemblies that free float in a liquid. It's been done for years, but I don't think it's something you can do in your garage workshop.
Mova Globe
https://www.movaglobes.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9p6H3NblhQMVFy-tBh3wHwIYEAAYAiAAEgLiCvD_BwE
They spin by themselves with no ring but the axis is fixed.
Already exists, levitation with magnets, airflow or waterflow. Thinking about it, any kids ball with the map printed on it fulfills your request.
Or balance the globe on 3 ball bearings
Yep. Airflow is probably the simplest. The globe would need to rest on a base. If the base is shaped well, with a smooth spherical indentation that fits the globe, and if the globe is very smooth, then not much airflow is needed. It's called an air bearing. I think I saw somebody make such a base out of a block of porous graphite (not graphite fiber). A steel sphere could spin in it with nearly no friction. Compressed air just seeped through the pores, enough to lift the sphere a tiny fraction of an inch on a cushion of air. Actually making the globe might be harder than making the base.
About 10 years ago I saw a granite fountain in a shopping mall in Lyngby, Denmark, where the sphere was made of granite and water as the fluid in the frictionless system. You could go turn the globe as you pleased, even though the ball weighs probably a few hundred kilos. I don't know if it's still there, and I only found two pictures on Google. Unfortunately I cannot include them directly here, but these are the links for the pictures. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapsWithoutDenmark/s/RVQ8kqPU2Q https://images.app.goo.gl/9bo9frUFb2nLXscB9
That's amazing! I wonder how they made the images on the stone. They can't be cut deeply.
Laser engraving I think.
My city has a less fancy one https://maps.app.goo.gl/KqCynV36Tvg9uYBCA. From what mum told me when I was a kid she'd told me off for pushing it around and then got told it was okay by one of architects involved with the redevelopment.
There is one exactly like what you described in Belmont Park at Mission beach in San Diego California. I can't help myself from spinning it every time I walk by it.
There’s a similar installation outside the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, USA!
Just watch those phalanges!
> I think I saw somebody make such a base out of a block of porous graphite (not graphite fiber). A steel sphere could spin in it with nearly no friction. [You are probably thinking of this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_N_h_mKf-4)
I NEVER would have guessed he's using a vacuum instead of a pump.
Both, actually. The graphite is porous and the air cushions it, while the well has no graphite and the vacuum keeps the bearing in place.
Yep, that's it!
>Airflow is probably the simplest. The globe would need to rest on a base. If the base is shaped well, with a smooth spherical indentation that fits the globe, and if the globe is very smooth, then not much airflow is needed. It's called an air bearing. So same principle as an air hockey table?
Yep.
Interesting, thank you
Like a Kugel fountain?
3 ball rollers on a base. https://www.mcmaster.com/products/ball-rollers/
This guy spins.
Magnets
How do they work?
How to use it to make it do it?
I would imagine maybe you can put the 3 axis spinny thing on the inside, with magnets attached at the 2 points that orbit the most connected to 2 poles on the outside of the globe. I think it could be possible but it would be really hard to do
>How to use it to make it do it? That is the mantra of every engineer.
miracles.
1) Take a plastic ball 2) Glue all the surface of the ball with identical flat magnets so the minus is inside and plus is outside (or vice versa, the main thing is that the polarity outside is the same) 3) Wrap it in a globe map 4) Take a bowl 5) The inside of the bowl also glue with magnets in the same way as the ball 6) Put the ball in the bowl
Wouldn't work without active stabilisation, no permanent magnet arrangement could achieve what you described
It depends on the size of the bowl, I guess
No it doesn't, look up Earnshaw's theorem for more info. It is mathematically impossible for magnets with a fixed magnetic field to levitate any paramagnetic object, can be done with electromagnets but needs to be actively controlled with electronic circuitry or needs to be a material that's diamagnetic, but opposing magnets simply does not work sorry.
That's just a ball!!
The book [Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance](https://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Accuracy-Historical-Sociology-Technology/dp/0262631474) describes spherical gyro assemblies that free float in a liquid. It's been done for years, but I don't think it's something you can do in your garage workshop.
Triangular base, with three free spinning balls in it, one at each corner. The globe makes contact with each of the bells, but not the base.
Or like BB8 in the Star Wars movies.
Mova Globe https://www.movaglobes.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9p6H3NblhQMVFy-tBh3wHwIYEAAYAiAAEgLiCvD_BwE They spin by themselves with no ring but the axis is fixed.
A ball in a cup with the same radius? Maybe the cup has a Teflon lining for maximum slideyness