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Quantum levitation demonstrated in viral video
A demonstration by Tel-Aviv University’s Superconductivity Group School of Physics and Astronomy shows quantum locking in action. The video was recorded at the Association of Science – Technology Centers Annual Conference and has already been viewed nearly 400,000 times in only two days.
The video was posted on YouTube on October 16 by ASTCvideos and shows a permanent magnet being used to levitate a thin superconductor layer in an effect called quantum levitation. In layman’s terms, the superconductor is so cold that it’s locking the magnetic field in three dimensions. The superconductor can seemingly “hover” in space and even move along a track freely because the magnetic field stays the same.
quantumleviation.com provides more information about the elements at play. The semiconductor (0.5micron) is coated with a sapphire crystal (500micron) layer, wrapped in plastic and chilled in liquid nitrogen. The end result is that the chilled wafer is essentially locked in space above the magnet.
This works because at a normal state (warm), the magnetic field is able to penetrate freely. Cooling creates quantum trapping and the magnetic field penetrates in the form of quantum flux tubes. The quantum flux tubes are pinned in defects, locking the superconductor in space and allowing frictionless movement.
It’s still way too early to determine just exactly how such a technology could be used commercially but it certainly looks promising.
User Comments: 42
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This aint new tech... its using the meissner effect and has been around for along time....
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Amazing super amazing astounding but what can we do with it? any practical ideas, and is it possible for anybody to make one maybe at home or something?
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A somewhat big event, but is it newsworthy? As some people have pointed out, it's not at all new. I've seen it demonstrated in person myself.
Oh well, pretty cool anyway.
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Today is hard to be impress by technology. But I'm impress.
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Back to the Future hover board..
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yea literally
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This is why we need Israel...THEY'RE SMART
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This is NOTHING NEW!!!
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Was that jeff goldblum?
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Rats - the secret of my surfboard is out!
Only I don't need roads lined with magnets - I can do it along the planet's flux lines...
(Signed: The Silver Surfer)
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it isnt being levitated, its being locked, hence the reason he can set it at angles and upside down
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@Wendig0 - No, just no, that is wrong on so many levels.
Oh really? Which part? There was a time when people said the same thing about man walking on the Moon.
It's not perpetual because you have to keep cooling the superconductor thats quite a lot of energy...More importantly tho this could be the first step towards some kind of hover tech, would make sense that it should work with electromagnets also? You could wire up a whole road and only power the sections with "cars" over them to save power and still have great mobility.
You will note that I said it was "close". I didn't say we were there yet.
There may come a time in the near future when someone takes these principles, and refines them to the point where supercooling is no longer required to stabilize the magnetic field. It could happen.
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spydercanopus said:
This could make travel infinitely more energy efficient
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Ahem - not "Quantum Levitation" at all. It's just a Super conductor. You cool them to their correct temperature (think just a few degrees above absolute 0), and magnetic lines wrap around them, instead of interacting with them - hence they "Levitate", or in this case, are supported by a structure of magnetic field lines.
This is nothing new - I did this in my Intro to Nano tech class just the other week, and I go WIT. When they figure out how to make a superconductor that operates at room temp, let me know.
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and i thought back to the future was far off when they had hover/levitation technology in 2015. its finally becoming a reality
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Are you guys for real? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meissner_effect
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treetops said:
its like the object is in space but must stay on the track, epic
![hellokitty[hk]](http://www.techspot.com/community/data/avatars/s/169/169488.jpg?1355088591)
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