LEVITATION III
Don’t worry no puns this time. And for the final part of this “levitating series”, I bring to you the coolest ideas!
They are both scientific and super geeky effects that nobody ever teaches you because they believe that these effects are useless.
But fortunately for you our site exists and we believe in bringing out the cool aspects of science so be prepared to be enlightened and rise (Get it?! That was the last one. Promise. For real this time) to attain scientific nirvana with:
- Meissner Effect
This also has to do with magnets. I am sorry. But I promise this will be cool. This method involves a dipolar magnet on top of a superconducting substance. What essentially happens is that when a substance becomes superconducting, that is, it has no electrical resistance whatsoever, all magnetic field through it get expulsed (removed).
At the same time, eddy currents (What are eddy currents? Trust me, you do not want to know. They are some weird quantum thingamajig) are produced in a manner that opposes the magnetic field/pole of the magnet above it. This repulsion causes the magnet to levitate. The best part, Earnshaw’s law does not make this complicated. Because as the point of equilibrium (the point where he charges completely cancel each other out) moves, so do the eddy currents to oppose the magnet. It is self-sustaining! This video should help explain it a bit better.
- Leidenfrost Effect
This is not technically levitation but since it is so cool and has nothing to do with magnets, I had to include it. I doubt you have ever seen what happens to water droplets on a super-hot pan. But if you have you have already seen this effect practically. This method works with all liquids. When a liquid comes into contact with an object which is significantly hotter than its boiling point, the bottom of the liquid becomes so hot that it starts vaporizing forming a layer of vapor below the liquid that causes it to “levitate”. This levitation is highly unstable though. You will see what I mean in the following video.
Crazy right? But this is not the only way it can be visualized. What if an object above the Leidenfrost point (temperature at which the effect occurs for a certain liquid) is dropped into the liquid? Let us see!
This effect has incredible possibilities. When the droplets experience this effect, they encounter minimal friction, causing even the smallest of stimuli to make them move around very fast. If this motion could be controlled, possibilities are limitless!
That finally concludes my article on different levitation techniques.
But before I end this article, I would like to completely baffle you. It is actually possible that we cannot actually even touch anything else (article on that will come soon) due to some crazy quantum physics on a subatomic level. Wouldn’t that mean that we are not really ever in contact with the ground? Doesn’t that mean that all things including the monitor you are reading this article on and you, are levitating?
Leave your thoughts down below!
Levitation 1-https://www.highschoolpedia.com/2018/08/leviation.html
Levitation 2- https://www.highschoolpedia.com/2018/08/levitation-2.html
Enjoy your high school with - High School Pedia : www.highschoolpedia.com
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