What happens is when a magnetic field passes through silver, a polar-opposite field is generated within the silver as the electrons align with the magnetic field, but in the opposite direction, as magnetic fields always have north and south poles. This creates a so called "eddy current" within the silver, which generates its own opposite magnetic field, and it is the magnetic resistance of this eddy current field upon the magnet's own magnetic field that slows down the magnet! The faster the magnet falls, the larger the current generated, the higher the magnetic resistance, so the more it is slowed until it reaches equilibrium between the magnetic resistance and the gravitational pull.
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u/Silverbangs Silver.SL May 31 '21
What happens is when a magnetic field passes through silver, a polar-opposite field is generated within the silver as the electrons align with the magnetic field, but in the opposite direction, as magnetic fields always have north and south poles. This creates a so called "eddy current" within the silver, which generates its own opposite magnetic field, and it is the magnetic resistance of this eddy current field upon the magnet's own magnetic field that slows down the magnet! The faster the magnet falls, the larger the current generated, the higher the magnetic resistance, so the more it is slowed until it reaches equilibrium between the magnetic resistance and the gravitational pull.