Quantum Levitation: The Coolest Science You'll See Today

[Racecarlock]

So, to recap, we've got:

Quark-gluon plasma: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.286881-Large-Hadron-Collider-Creates-Incredibly-Dense-Primordial-Matter

Commercial Space Travel: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.318341-Did-you-know-space-travel-is-happening

Holding anti-matter for 16 minutes: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.289614-CERN-Scientists-Capture-Antimatter-For-Record-16-Minutes

And now quantum floaty magic. Not to mention computers in our pockets that are voice controlled like in star trek. It's the future, it's coming, be ready. Otherwise you'll miss it. Come on, you guys can't be jaded enough to look at this without any emotion. It's friggin floating! For fucks sake, this is UFO technology.

 

[CommanderL]

cool my dream of a back to the future hover board is getting closer

 

[SuperNova221]

YBa2Cu3O7 is a pretty interesting material, and superconductors in general. Cool application of it in that video. Should be interesting to see what type of practical applications they will be used for when we find some superconductors that work at room temperature.

 

[GeorgW]

That is soo fucking cool! (see what I did thar?)
I'm most interested with how friction works in this system, cuz this could prove extremely useful to me.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Well the guy is clearly a wizard because the only way for it to move around like that and for him not to get hurt is magic.

That's actually really cool, I was in awe the entire time.

 

[walrusaurus]

Well done scientists of Tel'aviv! You've got superconducting flying magnets; now get to work on my stargate.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

My question: If the thing is negative 185 Celsius how does he avoid burning his fingers when he touches it?

i noticed it the second time, if you look closely it is covered by a thin plastic, kind of like what frozen pizza's are covered in, so i believe that is what is preventing him from burning like hell.

OT: saw this video this morning from a friend, good to see it founds its way on here, it is awesome and everytime i watch it i can't help but have a huge geeky smile on my face.


if only they did presentations like these in my area..*sigh*

 

[Realitycrash]

My question: If the thing is negative 185 Celsius how does he avoid burning his fingers when he touches it?

i noticed it the second time, if you look closely it is covered by a thin plastic, kind of like what frozen pizza's are covered in, so i believe that is what is preventing him from burning like hell.

OT: saw this video this morning from a friend, good to see it founds its way on here, it is awesome and everytime i watch it i can't help but have a huge geeky smile on my face.


if only they did presentations like these in my area..*sigh*

Fine, but how do they KEEP it at minus 185? Just exposing that thing to room-temperature like they are should heat it up from minus 185 pretty quickly.
Do they have a vat of something that cold near-by, and dip it every now and then? Seems like a hazard.

 

[walrusaurus]

My question: If the thing is negative 185 Celsius how does he avoid burning his fingers when he touches it?

What he's touching isn't the 88K disc, but the ice that will be constantly be forming around it. The ice will still be subzero but not so cold as to instantly kill off tissue with momentary contact. Same way that you can snuff out a candle with your fingers without burning your hand.

 

[Realitycrash]

Sooooo...

Hovercars, anyone?

Sure, who WOULDN't want to sit for an extended period of time in something that only becomes super-conductive (and thus gains the ability to hoover) at -185 Celsius?

^^

 

[The_Darkness]

My question: If the thing is negative 185 Celsius how does he avoid burning his fingers when he touches it?

I was thinking that aswell, that should be so cold he gets burned.

Two reasons:
One, it looks like there is plastic packaging in the way between his fingers and the liquid Nitrogen. (note: the disk is actually the very thin thing at the bottom, not all the white stuff: That *is* nitrogen)
Two, he never touches it long enough to get ice-burned - it's quite likely that heat is stolen from his fingers but the nitrogen will evaporate before his fingers get noticeably cold.

It's like how you can pour liquid Nitrogen onto your hand and still have fingers afterwards.

 

[nukethetuna]

Am I the only one who thinks that the floating disc of sorcery looks really delicious? Like... it seems like it would have a flavor that mankind has never experienced before. It kind of looks like a thin mint. Maybe it is the god of thin mints, capable of levitation...

 

[Realitycrash]

Question: Doesn't the laws of thermodynamics disprove true super-conductivity? Is it not impossible to get absolute zero resistance in an object (though not impossible to get it really, really low, thus making it look like no energy is lost)?

 

[Jadak]

This whole thread is going to be people rehashing that tired Insane Clown Posse meme, isn't it?

Internet, I hate you so much.

You lost the right to judge criticize things like that when you brought up wizards

 

[Vivi22]

It's the future, it's coming, be ready.

Personally, I'd say the future already arrived some time ago. I mean really, am I the only one who every now and then sits back, looks at how far technology has progressed even in the last 20 years, and realizes we've been living in most people's conception of the future for a long time now?

 

[Cpu46]

It's at times like these where I want to disregard the inaccuracy of the statement and just scream at the top of my lungs

I LIVE IN THE F***ING FUTURE!!!!

I really never expected to see something like that unless it was in a movie or a hoax. The fact that this is legit and has science to back it up makes me giggle like a small child.

 

[Robert Ewing]

>> starts drinking a delicious cup of coffee
>> Logs onto the escapist, and see's this article
>> Watch's video for about 4 seconds
>> entire computer is now saturated with both coffee and my saliva

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

My question: If the thing is negative 185 Celsius how does he avoid burning his fingers when he touches it?

i noticed it the second time, if you look closely it is covered by a thin plastic, kind of like what frozen pizza's are covered in, so i believe that is what is preventing him from burning like hell.

OT: saw this video this morning from a friend, good to see it founds its way on here, it is awesome and everytime i watch it i can't help but have a huge geeky smile on my face.


if only they did presentations like these in my area..*sigh*

Fine, but how do they KEEP it at minus 185? Just exposing that thing to room-temperature like they are should heat it up from minus 185 pretty quickly.
Do they have a vat of something that cold near-by, and dip it every now and then? Seems like a hazard.

it isn't my BEST subject, but i do believe that "shit" stays cold for a LONG fucking time, it's so "WTF" that you wouldn't think it is normally possible, but it is (is it liquid nitrogen? i didn't pay attention that closely) in that the disk is giving off such a ridiculously cool temp that the ice around it is a perfect layer around it that it keeps the heat from entering in (at least at a rate you would think would heat it up.)

a semi relative example: ever use dry ice? plenty of people end up buying dry ice by the pounds to use on long trips, because it stays cooler substantially longer than normal ice. hell for fourth of july that shit stayed frozen out in the heat alllllll damn day.