Quantum Levitation = Back to the Future Hoverboard?

Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
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Quantum Levitation = Back to the Future Hoverboard?

October 18, 2011

Tel-Aviv University recently demonstrated quantum superconductors locked in a magnetic field causing a superconducting disc to be suspended above or below a set of permanent magnets - seemingly defying the laws of gravity. But unlike other magnet tricks, you can move the object and it stays in the new position. Or you can spin it and it seems to spin endlessly due to near zero friction.

The magnetic field is locked inside the superconductor - a phenomenon called 'Quantum Trapping'. The first thing that came to mind was the famous hoverboard in Back to the Future.


Here's the video with >525,000 YouTube views:


Here's another demo showing how they made it:


Here's an image I snagged from this 2nd video:
quantum-flux-tubes.jpg

Wait... What does that say? "quantum flux tubes". As in the quantum flux capacitor from Back to the Future? Great Scott! Doc was right! Forget the hoverboard, time travel is just around the corner!
doc-back-to-future.jpg



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