This video made the rounds on Facebook among my more sciency friends just a few hours ago. My mind is still totally fucking blown. Amazing the things they're doing lately.
Quantum Levitation: The Coolest Science You'll See Today
- Thread starter Earnest Cavalli
- Start date
It makes me wonder if you could make the disk a bit bigger and have a small bit under it to put the thing that makes it float, could it then just fly off on its own? Leading to amazing flying transport? I think so.
He doesn't touch it for long enough for the cold to penetrate. I've seen scientists do something similar (handling it without gloves) with molten lead, as well.Twilight_guy said:
Awesome picture.Jibblejab said:Sorry I had to
OT: That is brilliant, +10 internets to them. Could it have a use?
Also, this most certainly will have a use. We just need to figure out room temperature superconductors first (which to my understanding would be the "splitting the atom" of the modern era), then we'd have repulsorlift tech and all sorts of fun things like that.
It's different in the fundamental mechanics it uses. Maglev trains use magnetic repulsion to keep things separate. Essentially what they do is take two really powerful magnets, strap one to the bottom of the train and one to the rail, and make sure that the poles towards each other are the same. This generates lift because magnets of like polarity repel.octafish said:
This video is different because there is no repulsion. The frozen sapphire thing is literally locked in place. It has to do with a property of superconductors, where magnetic flux is rejected within them. The simplest way to explain it is that the magnetic field within a superconductor cannot be changed, it's just not physically possible. Introducing a magnetic field to the thing creates potential flux, so what happens is that the superconductor is locked in place. It literally cannot move against the magnetic field. That's why it's different.
It's hard to explain without diagrams, so let me know if there's questions, but that's the gist of it.
Very good! Just out of curiosity: Did you have to look it up or can you actually do declensions? (My Latin is horrific, but my Catholicism is better; that's how I managed to figure out what it said but I can't tell if it's declined right.)Earnest Cavalli said:
Wizards messing with science. They're going to get one angry letter.
Damn superconductors are cool. I want them, but I'd get bored rather fast I believe.
Damn superconductors are cool. I want them, but I'd get bored rather fast I believe.
I love superconductors. If scientists can find a way to mass produce superconductors, and keep them cooled efficiently and effectively, then all science and technology would make a jump that makes the last 20 years look like a night of heavy drinking and sociables.
This was me exactly. I just... Guh.Cpu46 said:
I basically nerd-gasm'd. This is seriously cool stuff (pun not intended).
Seriously.
Just...
...
I LIVE IN THE F***ING FUTURE!!!!
see, this is what happens when you get nerds who can use magic.
i'm lookin at you,
she is obviously to blame.
i'm lookin at you,
she is obviously to blame.
They can cure a significant number of cancers and the death rate for most has been drastically lessened. As for AIDS, antiretroviral therapy has turned a certain death sentence into a relatively manageable condition. I know it was just a throwaway comment, but please don't dismiss the incredible work that's been done by scientists in medical research.Thumper17 said:
On topic: cool.
