Superconductive Levitation

Flying has always been a dream for mankind. And levitation is it's most prominent manifestation. Magnets could accomplish this feat through the repulsion of the same polarity but the problem of stability was still there. These days with the use of superconductors, levitation using magnets is indeed possible.

Superconductivity is a phenomenon in wich a material (a usually extremely low temperatures) displays zero electrical resistance, and expulses magnetic fields. It is a quantum mechanical phenomenon (fancy words). Superconductors are characterized by the Meisner effect, the complete ejection of magnetic field lines from it's interior. What that means is that superconductors expel magnets.
No big deal, we can already do that with two magnets. The point is at the flux pinning. If the magnet is pressed strongly enough at the superconductor, the magnetic field lines penetrate it and get caught in defects in the crystaline structure of the superconductor.

What that means? Repulsion and attraction at the same time. Levitation!




If my ranting got you too tired to watch the whole thing, this is a shorter version that demonstrated the actually cool stuff.