Can a hover-board be far behind? No smoke or mirrors as amazing video shows quantum levitation in action
It may look like something out of Harry Potter's book of spells and charms.
But this mystical fizzing object is actually a magnet that has been super cooled in liquid nitrogen and then locked in space.
A student from Tel-Aviv University's Superconductivity Group School of Physics and Astronomy showed off the effects of 'quantum locking' or 'quantum trapping' during the Association of Science's annual conference in Maryland, USA.
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Floating: A student from Tel-Aviv University shows off the effects of a magnet that's been super cooled with liquid nitrogen
The student demonstrated how the frozen magnet hovered wherever he put it within the magnetic field even when turned upside down.
It even spun around a track in the same position and did the same when the student turned the track upside down.
This technique has been demonstrated before, but this video shows how the position and angle of the magnet can be locked within the field while it is moving.
Power of magnets: The frozen magnet even hovers upside down
Bright hopes for future construction: It also hovers around a magnetic track in the same position it was put in
Exciting: The magnet also hovers on an angle and travels around the track
So, when the student set the magnet at a 45 degree angle on the track it hovered around it at 45 degrees.
Those who remember - and still hanker after - the hover board that Michael J Fox's Marty McFly rode in Back To The Future II may be one step closer to their transport dream being realised.
Teen dream: Michael J Fox's Marty McFly demonstrates the hover board in Back to the Future II. Could they become reality with quantum locking?
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