Force characterization of eddy currents

We discuss an experiment for an undergraduate laboratory designed to characterize eddy currents from the forces associated with them. Eddy currents also can be associated with the magnetization and described by a complex magnetic susceptibility. We establish an iterative method for calculating the magnetic susceptibility that is applicable to different geometries without using advanced mathematics. We apply our results to experiments with massive and hollow cylinders for which the susceptibility depends on the geometry. By measuring the force we obtain the cylinders’ conductivity with a contactless technique.