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Scientists Use Sound Waves To Levitate, Move Objects
sciencehabit writes "The tragic opera Rigoletto may move you to tears, but here's a more literal application of the moving power of sound. Sound waves with frequencies just above human hearing can levitate tiny particles and liquid droplets and even move them around, a team of engineers has demonstrated. The advance could open up new ways to handle delicate materials or mix pharmaceuticals."
Just for the record all Opera moves me tears, what the fuck is up with the middle school rhetorical flourish?
Also this is basically decades old. How much is /. getting for the clicks?
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Acoustic levitation is nothing new, what they've done is found a way to move stuff around while it's levitating.
And here's a decent link for those who don't feel like contributing to someone's page counter.
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/07/10/1301860110
Can the bottom of my car be a flat surface which vibrates sprayed water droplets, thus slightly levitating the vehicle and allowing forward movement via those particles?
Sand on a 15" speaker, an amp, and a signal generator was a fixture of Hamfests in the 70's.
Ever notice how sliding a desk across a floor is really heard to do, then gets easier?
It's because it's levitating part of the mass on trapped sound waves under the sliding feet...
This is old news by now.
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
Back in the 1990s I heard the use of sound waves to move objects proposed as one of the fringe theories for how the pyramids were built, because "people could not have moved those great big blocks such long distances!". So, there must have been earlier work by scientists in moving things with sound waves that crank historians could twist for their own theories.
. . . you can't beat the good old Brown Note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_note
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Some people might think this sort of discovery will vindicate claims made by dubious inventors like Keely. Be on the look out for anyone here mentioning "vibratory sympathy".
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
The sound levitated the cat about 2'.
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
Just play any, for example, Justin Bieber tune and the resulting sound waves instantly move me out of the room. Most commercials on TV work the same way, unless I'm in control of the remote.
Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
When will they turn screws using sound?
Like Simon Newcombe and Lord Kelvin proving that heavier-than-air aircraft were impossible!
Many sounds make things move, for example, the sound of my wife reminding me of chores usually gets me moving pretty swiftly.
Because resonances can often get you more bang for your energy buck than direct impulse.
That, and they want to move things carefully and precisely. This seems like it would be a lot more stable than using air flows.
Frequency.
...even be able to image human foetuses.
Sorry -- just thinking out loud.
That's electromagnetic levitation, not sonic.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
We have the tech, and the ppl willing to go. Only the political will and a culture of artificial scarcity is stopping us.
LCAC Beach Landing
Jhyrryl
But can it levitate a frog? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1vyB-O5i6E
soylentnews.org
Could this be the technology behind The Doctor's sonic screwdriver?
Maybe prior to the reboot. But with the last few seasons, the Doctor's "sonic screwdriver" has been increasingly used as a generic device to magically resolve plot holes and compensate for poorly thought-out stories.
It used to turn screws and open locks. These days it does everything from neural force field generation to automatic computer hacking. Basically, whenever the bad guys provide a challenge that the Doctor can't solve, he just pulls the 'sonic' and ... zaaap ... problem solved!
Need a medical scanner, no problem, just pull the 'sonic'. Bad guy is projecting a super plasma/neural/whatever beam, no probs, just pull the 'sonic'. Computer system taking over the world? No probs, 'sonic' to the rescue.
They don't even bother calling it a "sonic screwdriver" anymore.
I just wish I had my own 'sonic' to deal with the incoming moderation black hole that may be coming this way.
And here I was worried the new owners wouldn't understand the readership when DICE bought /.
of when I use my "these aren't the droids you're looking for" sound/hand wave to levitate flies. They shoot straight off. Unfortunately, flies have a very short memory, and two seconds later they're back for more. Definitely too short to be stormtroopers, flies.
Who cares? $800 dollar Honda Civics have been doing this with $2500 dollar strereo systems in my neighborhood for years!
The paper was submitted on January this year, and approved for publication on June 8. This is a change in design that allows transport and handling rather than just levitating it in air. The flourish was in the original article BTW.