I have an engineering project where I have to design and build a model of a drop tower from a theme park. The tower itself can be no taller than 40cm.
I plan to use magnetic braking with copper to stop the ride at the bottom. I intend to have the base of the moving seats either made out of magnets or have magnets attached to the side. Then I want to have two copper blocks, maybe 15cm long and 2cm wide/thick, on the inside of the tower itself. The seats would be attached to the front of a block that would move up and down inside the tower. When the seats fall, I would have the copper at the bottom, surrounding the base of the seats and have it slowly descend the last 15cm.
I would appreciate and advice or links on this topic, whether it be how thick the copper needs to be, how strong a magnet would have to be or a link to a paper published on the topic.
I believe this falls under Lenz's law but I'm not certain so any advice is appreciated.
