Quantum Levitation: The Coolest Science You'll See Today

[SnakeoilSage]

SCIENCE!

Very cool. You know what this means, right?

Now if only we could figure out freestanding magnetic fields.

And propulsion for objects suspended by such fields.

 

[Agayek]

And propulsion for objects suspended by such fields.

I'd imagine it would propel itself the same way a normal skateboard does. Gravity and elbow grease.

 

[Denamic]

... Fucking magnets. How do they work!?

I actually don't even know any more...

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

that is amazing, although one thing bothers me, why dont these scientists ever sound excited when they show this awesome stuff??

 

[DSK-]

I'll be honest...at first I thought "Jeff Goldblum!" and then after the video I thought "SCIENCE!"

 

[Syzygy23]

Fucking quantum mechanics. How does it work!?

... Fucking magnets. How do they work!?

Fucking memes, how do they work?

Well the idea of supercnducting magnets has always been a pretty mind-boggling one, as an engineering student (and terible speller) the idea of resistance being Zero is both a mind and equation buster but the fact that orientation can be maintained is pretty staggering.

?

.

Well i will attempt to explain in my own words;

Indeed the critical temperature (i.e. the superconductance point, i.e. where the magic happens) tends to over somewhere between freaking cold and absolute zero (The LHC has super conductirs cooled by liquid helium, you heard me helium! Take that liquid Hydrogen!) meaning high consts involved with maintaining superconductace.

**WARNING HEAVY SCIENCE***

How it all works

This is becuase the atoms in a conductor vibrate at higher temperatures impeding the flow of elericity though them (imagine trying to drive you car in a see of fast moving trafic going in all directions and how much ou would collide with them sending out energy) and as they conduct they also produce more 'vibration' and more heat BUT if you are able to make the conductor cool enough the movement of atoms slow and the current can move more freely (imagine all the trffic parks by the side of the road and nothing gets in your way) and the conductor offers NO (or effectively no) resistance. Imagine the energy is water, you stlll have to put the water in but it can keep flowing round and round and is not lost.

WHY IS ALL SCIENCE NOT EXPLAINED THIS WAY INSTEAD OF BULLSHIT EQUATIONS THAT DON'T EVEN USE NUMBERS?

Also, how much weight could that small disk support? I wanna strap a bunch of them under my car to see if I can make it all, y'know... blade runnery.

 

[wgering]

That looks suspiciously like the Meissner effect...only upside down. I guess no one ever thought to put the magnet below the superconductor?

I've gotten small bar magnets to levitate above rings of chilled YBCO, but never experimented with moving them around...did it more for giggles than serious research. Science is fun.

 

[UltraXan]

I just e-mailed that video to my science teachers. Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude, this is so fucking awesooooooome! I am so glad I found this!

 

[Giest4life]

Is it possible this is the first visible demonstration of quantum physics? I mean, after all, quantum physics is a tad too small for the human eye.
Also, it seems that the cult of the quantophysicists is finally triumphing over the snooty classicists. First the--alleged--shattering of lightspeed, and now this. Can't wait to celebrate my 25th birthday on Mars.

EDIT: And people are bothered by Minecraft physics. Here you go, Notch, now you have a perfectly good, albeit confusing, explanation.

 

[Lunar Templar]

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.

and its the most awesome thing I've seen in a long time

seriously

i want one o.o

 

[Shadowfacet]

What I want to know is why this is a big deal to everybody? This technology has bee around for decades and it's one of the most basic demonstrations that you see in high school physics.

 

[Averant]

Soooo... primitive anti-grav?

 

[Kakashi on crack]

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

Well, I have no clue, but I made this kinda analogy:

You can touch liquid nitrogen without issues as long as you don't dunk your hand in it, so I'm guessing they laced some chem that they froze over ti that reacts to oxygen similar to liquid nitrogen thus preventing burns?

I dunno...

 

[Leemaster777]

My mind = Blown.

Also, does this mean Hover cars are indeed possible???

Couldn't resist.

But yes, my mind is currently decorating the headrest of my chair. I just wish I could understand WHY.

Why you so science, science?

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

So wait, your telling me that if we can find a proper application for this technology we can create infinite amounts of energy without friction issues and heavy labor?!

 

[Jegsimmons]

... Fucking magnets. How do they work!?

 

[bz316]

WITCH!! WITCH I SAY!!! KILL IT WITH FIRE!
.....
seriously cool though

 

[Mid-Boss]

Give me my hover board damn it!

 

[thelonewolf266]

My mind = Blown.

Also, does this mean Hover cars are indeed possible???

As Jack O'Neill would say "Magnets!".

God damn it, I want to watch that now.

I would say as a fellow Stargate fan you should join the Escapist Stargate Fan club but its been pretty dead since Universe was cancelled.
Goddamn you MGM and in extension cruel world.

 

[Agayek]

What I want to know is why this is a big deal to everybody? This technology has bee around for decades and it's one of the most basic demonstrations that you see in high school physics.

The thing with that is that it's completely wrong. This has never been done in any high school worth the name. No one would let a vat of liquid nitrogen loose near a group of teenagers, it's a recipe for disaster.

Also, this uses fundamentally different principles than magnetic repulsion, which is what you are referring to. Magnetic repulsion relies on the property of magnets that two magnets of the same polarity will repel each other with a certain amount of force. If one of the magnets weighs less than the other, they will repel each other and the one higher up will float in the air.

This experiment uses a property of superconductors that has absolutely nothing to do with magnetic repulsion. Without a charge running through them, superconductors aren't even magnetic. In layman's terms, superconductors don't like to move through magnetic fields. If you try to push one through a magnetic field, they push back to try and not move. It's really complicated, but the gist of it is that moving around a magnet makes it try to move in the opposite direction.

If the magnetic field is strong enough and/or the push is weak enough, then the superconductor is able to create enough counter force to stop its motion. That's how it is suspended in the air. Gravity is not able to exert enough force to override the counter force.

It moves around circular magnets because of the shape of magnetic fields. The layman's version of that is that because the magnet is a ring, it's moving along the magnetic field instead of through it.