A simple theory is proposed using Faraday’s law and the Lorentz force to analyze the effect of magnetic damping on an aluminum plate moving on a horizontal air track as it passes between the poles of a horseshoe magnet. The position, velocity, and acceleration of the nonmagnetic conducting plate are measured as a function of time using a motion detector. Using some simplifying assumptions, a theoretical model is obtained in which a single free parameter is used to fit the experimental data. This parameter corresponds to an effective length (LR) in which the eddy current encounters resistance as it moves around a closed path in the conductor. This leads to some interesting, but unexpected, results about the shape and magnitude of induced eddy currents.
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Louis H. Cadwell (1996) studied this question.