Quantum Levitation: The Coolest Science You'll See Today

[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.

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.

PLEASE Don't presume to think I am wrong. I am NOT talking merely about magnetic repulsion. And having just finished high school here in australia and from my own experience I can tell you that yes. We did do this experiment. Yes they did trust us to be responsible enough with liquid nitrogen. And it is most definitely what we did.
I can tell you all about the quantum theories for superconductivity and how when cooled below the critical temperature cooper pairs form between electrons travelling in the crystal lattice and because of the increased forces distort the mentioned lattice allowing them to movie with minimal resistance.

And please don't lecture me in laymans terms. If you want to tell me do it properly. Not that you need to. The reason they levitate is due to the Meisner effect which basically says that because the electrons can move in the lattice without resistance, and the fact that when a conductor moves in an external field a loop of current known as an eddy current will be generated in this to resist the direction of movement, As their is no resistance this eddy current creates a field to directly oppose the external field.

Please next time check before assuming that I'm talking out my arse.

 

[unacomn]

No one made this reference yet?

http://youtu.be/X9hatLT-vl4?t=4m3s

This is merely super-conductive electromagnetism, surely you've heard of it. It levitates bullet trains from Tokyo to Osaka. It levitates my desk, where I ride the saddle of the world. And it levitates... me!

 

[BlackWidower]

Saw this earlier today, and I love it! If we ever find a room temperature superconductor, we can use this technique to develop quantum rail, or something else. But I really like that name.

We just need to find out how to get it to hold more weight, because if he can move it with his hand, it's not very strong, let's face it.

 

[BlackWidower]

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.

PLEASE Don't presume to think I am wrong. I am NOT talking merely about magnetic repulsion. And having just finished high school here in australia and from my own experience I can tell you that yes. We did do this experiment. Yes they did trust us to be responsible enough with liquid nitrogen. And it is most definitely what we did.
I can tell you all about the quantum theories for superconductivity and how when cooled below the critical temperature cooper pairs form between electrons travelling in the crystal lattice and because of the increased forces distort the mentioned lattice allowing them to movie with minimal resistance.

And please don't lecture me in laymans terms. If you want to tell me do it properly. Not that you need to. The reason they levitate is due to the Meisner effect which basically says that because the electrons can move in the lattice without resistance, and the fact that when a conductor moves in an external field a loop of current known as an eddy current will be generated in this to resist the direction of movement, As their is no resistance this eddy current creates a field to directly oppose the external field.

Please next time check before assuming that I'm talking out my arse.

Wow, Australia must have damn good high schools. We've never touched anything like this. But according to this site, it's not the Meisner effect.

http://io9.com/5850729/quantum-locking-will-blow-your-mind--but-how-does-it-work

It's similar, but not the same. The magnetic field doesn't go around the superconductor, it goes through it. So it's like a nail, holding it in place. There's no resistance, it's just held in place like...like a nail.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

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

Magnets!

But seriously, folks, this shit is amazing.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

Would this work on thing other than liquid nitrogen? That's not exactly the simplest thing to get a hold of, so why did they use it? I'm only saying this because, if you could do this on a person, there are many applications, such as beds, or even prisons for overly dangerous felons.

 

[Pat8u]

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

well Magnets have things called magnectic fields... Oh its a meme *sigh*

OT:Can't watch the video cause I am Capped(internet is maxed)

 

[bakan]

snip

PLEASE Don't presume to think I am wrong. I am NOT talking merely about magnetic repulsion. And having just finished high school here in australia and from my own experience I can tell you that yes. We did do this experiment. Yes they did trust us to be responsible enough with liquid nitrogen. And it is most definitely what we did.
I can tell you all about the quantum theories for superconductivity and how when cooled below the critical temperature cooper pairs form between electrons travelling in the crystal lattice and because of the increased forces distort the mentioned lattice allowing them to movie with minimal resistance.

And please don't lecture me in laymans terms. If you want to tell me do it properly. Not that you need to. The reason they levitate is due to the Meisner effect which basically says that because the electrons can move in the lattice without resistance, and the fact that when a conductor moves in an external field a loop of current known as an eddy current will be generated in this to resist the direction of movement, As their is no resistance this eddy current creates a field to directly oppose the external field.

Please next time check before assuming that I'm talking out my arse.

When did High Schools start to teach quantum physics?
If you do bachelor and master courses about it, you are busy for 2+ semesters and that's when you actually make it on your first try...
Btw in this case it isn't the Meissner effect, it is a form of quantum trapping as it isn't the magnet levitating but the superconductor itself and it is locked in place.

 

[Lukeje]

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.

No. Quantum mechanics was devised after a large number of macroscopic measurements failed to correspond with classical theories. It has since been verified in numerous other macroscopic measurements.

Would this work on thing other than liquid nitrogen? That's not exactly the simplest thing to get a hold of, so why did they use it? I'm only saying this because, if you could do this on a person, there are many applications, such as beds, or even prisons for overly dangerous felons.

LN2 is actually relatively easy to get hold of. And I'm pretty sure the human body is not a superconductor (especially not at temperatures higher than LN2 temperature).

Anyway; isn't this just the Meissner effect? It's been known for rather a while now...

 

[honestdiscussioner]

Would this work on thing other than liquid nitrogen? That's not exactly the simplest thing to get a hold of, so why did they use it? I'm only saying this because, if you could do this on a person, there are many applications, such as beds, or even prisons for overly dangerous felons.

LN2 is actually relatively easy to get hold of. And I'm pretty sure the human body is not a superconductor (especially not at temperatures higher than LN2 temperature).

Anyway; isn't this just the Meissner effect? It's been known for rather a while now...

I know it isn't "difficult", but you do have to go out of your way. It's not like people use liquid nitrogen for demonstrations unless the properties of the liquid nitrogen are required, so that means it was likely a necessity that they use it here.

I understand that the effect has been known for a while, but I don't think it's a common thing to see. Levitating something is one thing, but being able to manually manipulate it and have it keep its position, even on an angle, is another. If we could do this with more mundane objects (wood, plastic, etc) it would be a revolution. We could use it in everything from art, to building, to law enforcement, and a plethora of other fields.

 

[Shadowfacet]

snip

PLEASE Don't presume to think I am wrong. I am NOT talking merely about magnetic repulsion. And having just finished high school here in australia and from my own experience I can tell you that yes. We did do this experiment. Yes they did trust us to be responsible enough with liquid nitrogen. And it is most definitely what we did.
I can tell you all about the quantum theories for superconductivity and how when cooled below the critical temperature cooper pairs form between electrons travelling in the crystal lattice and because of the increased forces distort the mentioned lattice allowing them to movie with minimal resistance.

And please don't lecture me in laymans terms. If you want to tell me do it properly. Not that you need to. The reason they levitate is due to the Meisner effect which basically says that because the electrons can move in the lattice without resistance, and the fact that when a conductor moves in an external field a loop of current known as an eddy current will be generated in this to resist the direction of movement, As their is no resistance this eddy current creates a field to directly oppose the external field.

Please next time check before assuming that I'm talking out my arse.

When did High Schools start to teach quantum physics?
If you do bachelor and master courses about it, you are busy for 2+ semesters and that's when you actually make it on your first try...
Btw in this case it isn't the Meissner effect, it is a form of quantum trapping as it isn't the magnet levitating but the superconductor itself.

Yeah in year 11 and 12 we cover basic quantum physics. On top of this we also learn about the history and construction of the standard model of particle physics. I must say for all the high prices of everything here I am glad I live in australia.

Wow, Australia must have damn good high schools. We've never touched anything like this. But according to this site, it's not the Meisner effect.

http://io9.com/5850729/quantum-locking-will-blow-your-mind--but-how-does-it-work

It's similar, but not the same. The magnetic field doesn't go around the superconductor, it goes through it. So it's like a nail, holding it in place. There's no resistance, it's just held in place like...like a nail.

And yeah, looks as though whilst it's not the Meisner effect it still relies upon many of the principles that I mentioned. Yeah, the "flux tubes" that are mentioned are just a characteristic of type II superconductors that allow minuscule penetrations of magnetic flux through the wafer.

 

[Atmos Duality]

So they created quantum gaps in the magnetic field so the superconductor wouldn't fuck up?
Very cool.
I wonder what scale this sort of system would be effective up to..

 

[Scrustle]

I didn't understand any of that... but that's amazing! I had no idea we were even anywhere close to making stuff like that! My jaw was dropped all the way through the video. This technology needs to be developed as soon as possible!

There's always stuff like this on The Escapist which I find totally baffling as to why it's not on mainstream news! All of these cool science-y things they report about could all potentially change the world in huge ways! But this is the only place I hear about them! This stuff is more important than 95% of the "news" you hear from mainstream outlets! It's criminal that these amazing advances go ignored by the larger population.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Thank you for blowing my fucking mind Escapist.
Now who's going to help me put this back together?

 

[GundamSentinel]

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.

Oh, and let's not forget carbon nanotubes cloaking devices. http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-10-mirage-effect-video.html

 

[FlameAx]

SORCERY BURN THE WITCH!!!

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

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.

Oh, and let's not forget carbon nanotubes cloaking devices. http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-10-mirage-effect-video.html

And


Now all we need is jetpacks and hovercars...

EDIT: Wait, that whole crystal is saphhire?!

 

[The Great JT]

Science, you have blown my mind yet again. We need to put more funding into this.

 

[wgering]

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...

Actually, you could even dunk your hand in a vat of LN2, provided you don't leave it there for too long. The temperature of your hand relative to the nitrogen is so high that any nitrogen that comes close to your hand will vaporize, forming a thin layer of nitrogen gas between your hand and the liquid nitrogen. Never had the courage to try it myself, but I've seen it done.

Disclaimer: DUNKING YOUR HAND INTO LN2 IS DANGEROUS. DON'T TRY IT.
Phew. That was close.


Also if you want a macroscopic demonstration of the effects of quantum mechanics, get three pieces of polarized glass/plastic, place two orthogonally so no light gets through, then place the third in between them at a 45-degree angle. Magic! Physics!

 

[Dutch 924]

Dear Santa...