Magnetogravitational potential revealed near a liquid-vapor critical point

Magnetic forces are increasingly used to compensate weight in multiphase matter (solids, liquids, or vapor), but compensation cannot be strictly uniform. In order to determine quantitatively the remaining forces, a magnetogravitational potential was constructed. The potential can be revealed by the shape of the liquid-vapor interfaces near the critical point, where the interfacial tension vanishes. Experiments near the critical point of H2 (33K) are reported which support this finding.