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Researchers Demonstrate Quantum Levitation

Posted by samzenpus on from the floating-around dept.

UnknownSoldier writes "Wired reports that researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered you can 'lock' a magnetic field into place with a superconductor. They have a very cool demonstration of a frozen puck and some of the neat things you can do with it while its orientation remains locked but its location is movable. Might we someday see high speed trains that will be 'impossible' to tip over, or a new generation of batteries with this technology?"

26 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Hoverboard by The+Joe+Kewl · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Awesome!
    WHEN Can I order my Hoverboard?!?!?!

    1. Re:Hoverboard by Wonko+the+Sane · · Score: 3, Funny

      Looks like a case of cold feet.

    2. Re:Hoverboard by hawguy · · Score: 2

      Agreed, though it seems like this thing is a little too easy to "unlock". How would you build a train when a small nudge can make it change alignment?

      It's not clear how much force he was using to change the orientation of the puck, but since the puck can support itself while upside down, its appears to exert at least as much force as it takes to support the weight of the puck. So a 100 ton train may require 100 tons of force to lift it from the track.

      From the demo, it's hard to see if it would have enough force to keep the train on the track, or if the pucks would have to surround the track to keep the train centered -- like conventional maglev trains. (or wheels as a backup if its a rare case when the train does stray from center)

    3. Re:Hoverboard by Riceballsan · · Score: 2

      Well flicking your finger will deal enough force to unlock anything in that scale from that demonstration, By the same logic real trains are subject do danger of a medium sized bird lifting them off of the tracks. The question isn't how easy is it to change the alignment on a air hockey puck sized object. The question is how it will scale when you are working with a multi ton train.

    4. Re:Hoverboard by Yvan256 · · Score: 2

      42.

    5. Re:Hoverboard by Pseudonym · · Score: 2

      You can have your hoverboard right after they start making pavements out of rare earth magnets.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  2. I don't think this is new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    This isn't new is it? It's a very cool demonstration, but unless I'm mistaken they didn't discover this--the actual article doesn't say it was a new discovery and I'm fairly sure my physics teacher showed me this a year or two ago. It is really cool, and the physics behind how it works is very interesting. It's pretty accessible too, don't be discouraged from reading up on it because you think it will be too hard to understand.

    1. Re:I don't think this is new? by Carnildo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Looks to me like a demonstration of the Meissner effect, something that was discovered in 1933.

      --
      "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
  3. Midnight train tipping. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    When has train tipping been a major problem? All those pesky teenagers I tell you - bored and at it again!

    1. Re:Midnight train tipping. by Lithdren · · Score: 2

      Clearly you support the magnets with magnets below. Then when the soil gives out it'll float in place. For extra security, secure the second layer with a third layer of magnets.

      Turtles, turtles all way down!

  4. SUPERCONDUCTOR by gygy · · Score: 5, Informative

    SUPERCONDUCTOR not semiconductor !

  5. Old news (like 1980 old) by genjix · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This has been around since the time of Carl Sagan. For a much better explanation of what is happening (and the science behind it), see this video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeS_U9qFg7Y&feature=player_embedded

    They haven't invented anything new so don't get excited about wipeout ships and hoverboards just yet. The problem is the immense amount of energy to keep the superconductor cooled.

    1. Re:Old news (like 1980 old) by Wonko+the+Sane · · Score: 2

      Did they have superconductors that worked at liquid nitrogen temperatures in 1980? The amount of energy needed to keep nitrogen liquid is significantly less than what it takes to keep helium liquid.

    2. Re:Old news (like 1980 old) by pz · · Score: 2

      Um, it's pretty easy to check. Wikipedia shows the first high Tc discovery was in 1986. I remember it well, as I was dating a physicist at the time.

      --

      Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
    3. Re:Old news (like 1980 old) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I remember it well, as I was dating a physicist at the time.

      please become a meme, please become a meme...

  6. How do you make the mistake by poity · · Score: 2

    of calling a superconductor a semiconductor?
    WIRED, where do you get your reporters?
    And /., where are you editors?

    --
    your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
  7. Re:dumbing down of slashdot by Tinctorius · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is flux pinning, and apparently, is a different phenomenon than the Meissner effect.

  8. Better video. by Ecuador · · Score: 5, Informative

    Try this longer video instead. It has construction details, explanations, double levitation etc.

    Also, "semiconductor"? Jeez, that is a lame mistake even by Slashdot standards!

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
  9. Engineering 101 by Dunbal · · Score: 2

    Might someday we see high speed trains that will be 'impossible' to tip over

    Yeah, because tipping over is the major concern with high speed trains. Who writes this stuff?

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  10. Re:/. Haters Gonna Hate by Carnildo · · Score: 3, Informative

    The problem is not that this isn't amazing, it's that the Slashdot editors (and Wired) are presenting an 80-year-old discovery as something new -- and then describing it using the wrong terminology.

    --
    "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
  11. Re:Why?! by Carnildo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Using "quantum" in the description makes it sound like a cool new discovery, rather than simply a demonstration of magnetic levitation using the Meissner effect and flux pinning.

    --
    "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
  12. Re:/. Haters Gonna Hate by radtea · · Score: 3, Informative

    I guess I just can't tell if the rising cynicism here matches the degrading quality of editing.

    They go hand in hand, in part because of the number of ignorant people responding to this story saying "WOW THAT IS SO AMAZING!", which just announces that they have somehow managed to preserve their ignorance of this effect for long enough to be old enough to post on /. but are still posting on /. It makes those of us who have an actual interest in science and technology feel like this isn't really the place we should be.

    As well as presenting an 80-year-old effect that has been a stock benchtop demonstration for 20 years as something "new" and "exciting", the marketers (not scientists or engineers) behind this have added the word "quantum" to it, which is so obviously catering to the ignorant it is just sad. I've even seen this described as using "quantum superconductors", which nicely distinguishes them from all the classical superconductors out there...

    --
    Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
  13. Re:dumbing down of slashdot by robotkid · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is flux pinning, and apparently, is a different phenomenon than the Meissner effect.

    Yes, but this was already well known in the late 1980's when type II superconductors hit center stage in the solid-state physics world. And 30 seconds later every single person in the field thought "hey, we could SOOO build a sweet maglev train with this". But it's still not practical by any stretch of the imagination except as a neat toy.

    So /. is only 20+ years late instead of ~80 years with the Meissner effect.

  14. Not the Meissner effect by JoshuaZ · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is not the Meissner effect! If it were you wouldn't be able to do the stunt where they move the disk to a different angle and it stays there. This is more subtle. The Meissner effect involves superconductors not letting magnetic field lines pass through the superconductor. This involves special superconductors that allow magnetic field lines to pass through but make the field lines get trapped in imperfections in the superconductor. The name of this effect is "flux pinning" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flux_pinning. Here is the website of the group who made this video where they explain it http://www.quantumlevitation.com/levitation/Quantum_Levitation.html

  15. pretty basic nowadays by Skylax · · Score: 5, Informative

    every physics student gets a demonstration of this effect in his solid state physics lecture. But usually the superconductor is rather small and is put into a small matchbox type car to drive it around a track. Here they used a relatively large and bulky superconducting disk, so the orientation locking is more visible. Although not new, it never gets old and I'm always fascinated by it. Just don't use the word "discovery" here!

  16. Re:Why?! by amRadioHed · · Score: 2

    "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics." - Richard Feynman

    There lies the difference. No reputable scientist would have said that about aircraft anytime in the last 75 years.

    --
    We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace