‘Quantum Levitation’ even sounds cool. The guys from the University of Tel-Aviv’s School of Physics Superconductivity Group recently demonstrated ‘quantum locking,’ at the Association of Science – Technology Centers Annual Conference by getting a supercooled magnet to levitate above a locked track. The science is clunky, the video looks very cool.
The superconductor is cooled in liquid nitrogen, which allows it to lock the magnetic field in three dimensions – such that it can levitate above (or below) a track, locked at a constant height in the field. Scientists can tilt the magnet at an angle or push it around the track, and it stays locked.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect hoverboards to be the next rational step in this technology.
[Source: ASTC]
