Levitation

Sound Waves Let Researchers Build Stuff With the Force

A new acoustic levitation device is even capable of picking up and placing drops of glue.

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Aug 12

These Hoverboards Might Actually Work…but Only On the Moon

The levitating vehicles of our dreams might actually be possible, just not on Earth.

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Dec 21

The Future of Grilling Season Is a Levitating Hot Dog Roaster

Looking for a more hygienic way to roast a hot dog that doesn’t involve it rolling around on a rarely cleaned grill? Taking advantage of the Coandă effect, YouTube’s NightHawkInLight has created a bizarre BBQ alternative that instead levitates a wiener inside a red hot coil. Even if you’re not familiar with the Coandă effect,…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski May 17

You Can Levitate Tiny Diamond Particles Using a Cheap Red Laser Pointer

Did you know a cheap red laser pointer is good for more than just annoying people at a movie theater? As YouTube’s Styropyro, aka Drake Anthony, demonstrates, by focusing the beam you can actually use it to lift and levitate tiny specs of diamond dust, similar to how Star Trek’s tractor beams seemingly work. The…

Sploid Andrew Liszewski Oct 23

Musk’s Hyperloop Has Nothing on This Quantum Levitation Race Track

He might have billions of dollars, a company that promises to revolutionize space travel, and an upgraded full head of hair, but Elon Musk’s Hyperloop will never be as cool as this superconducting quantum levitation Möbius strip race track created by students at Ithaca College’s Low Temperature Physics Lab. Möbius strips, as we all learned…

Sploid Andrew Liszewski Jul 13

Whoa, Dude, This Ball Is Totally Levitating on Sound Waves

Using sound frequencies above the human threshold for hearing, scientists have successfully levitated a two-inch sphere made from polystyrene. In a new study published in Applied Physics Letters, a team of international scientists has shown that it’s possible to acoustically levitate an object that’s larger than the acoustic wavelength itself. In their experiment, the researchers…

Physics & Chemistry George Dvorsky Aug 12

A Spinning Top Floating Inside a Smoke-Filled Bubble Looks Like Magic

Bubbles, magnetic levitation, and gyroscopes — there’s tons of super-cool DIY physics at work in the Levitron. Created by Dustin Skye, it’s a spinning top floating in mid-air inside a smoke-filled bubble, all for your viewing pleasure. To create the levitating top, Skye placed a large ring-shaped magnet in a wooden base filled with bubble-making…

Sploid Jennifer Ouellette Feb 17

These Cancer Cells Are Being Levitated Using Magnets

Magnetic levitation isn’t anything new: you’ve probably seen frogs made to float and maybe even trains hovering above their rails. But now scientists have gained enough subtle control over such forces that they can be used to levitate single cells, too. A team at Stanford University has developed a new way of levitating cells, which…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Jun 30

This levitating pumpkin is the best Jack O’ Lantern

Okay, this pumpkin isn’t carved but still, it’s freaking floating in the air! Therefore under the rule known as things that can float in the air can be called whatever they want, I name this levitating pumpkin the best and spookiest and awesomest and nerdiest Jack O’ Lantern of Halloween. SPLOID is delicious brain candy.…

Sploid Casey Chan Nov 1

Levitating Toy Trains Are the Best Use of Superconductors Yet

Science and electrical engineering types might have a list of practical uses for superconductors a mile long, but the rest of us really only care about how they can make things magically levitate. Just imagine if a company like Lionel revealed a levitating train set available in time for the holidays, the demand for Cabbage…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Sep 9

This Street Performer Has Mastered One of the Greatest Illusions

These Prague street performers have pulled off one of the finest executions of the levitating man illusion you will ever see. For those of you who hate fun and wonder, we’ve got the secret — and the physics — behind this ancient trick. For centuries, Indian yogis have claimed to have mastered the powers of…

io9 George Dvorsky Aug 27

Right Now, On the Moon, Dust is Quietly Levitating

Right now, a couple of feet above the surface of the Moon, a layer of dust is levitating. This is not a new development. Early photos of the Moon show the same phenomenon. What makes this dust float without air? If we see dust floating around on Earth, we imagine that the wind is picking…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 2

Magnetic Levitation Looks Magical in Slow Motion

What do you get if you take some magnets, superconductors, and liquid nitrogen, and a slow-mo camera to film them with? This kind of magical footage is what. This little demonstration of magnetic levitation isn’t much new—we’ve all heard of it, and maybe even seen it—but the video includes some magical footage. It’s mesmerising, it…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe Jan 10

Watch as scientists levitate these objects with sound waves

Using ultrasound, a team of Japanese scientists has levitated small particles, and moved them around mid-air. It’s incredible to see. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen ultrasonic levitation, but it’s a small step toward being able to move objects around once they’re off the ground. Write the researchers in a paper just posted to…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 1

Watch These Water Drops Levitate and Form Spinning, Pulsating Stars

If you play around with an ultrasound field for long enough, you can set up standing waves that allow you to levitate water drops in mid-air—but that’s only where the fun starts. The drops, held in a node of low pressure and supported in mid-air by a high-pressure zone sat beneath them, can be excited…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe Oct 23

Watch a Guy Freak People Out By Floating in the Air on a Moving Bus

Though this prank video is an obvious attempt at force inducing viral-ity by Pepsi Max, it’s still a pretty fun watch. The magician Dynamo tricks people into thinking he can levitate by ‘magically’ following a bus around as it moves across London. Watch people freak out when they see him float. It’s always fun to…

Tech News Casey Chan Jun 24

Levitating Wireless Candelabra Makes For an Amazing Thanksgiving Centerpiece

It’s all explainable via science, but if you replace your typical cornucopia centerpiece with this floating steel plate supporting a glowing wireless candelabra, your dinner guests will be too blown away to notice your dry turkey and lumpy gravy. This awesome demonstration of magnetic levitation and inductive power was recorded at Paris’ Palais de la…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Oct 10

Scientists Invent Levitation Method to Create More Effective Drugs

The demonstration in the video may seem like MAGIC! but it’s real: scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory are employing a levitation machine that uses sound waves to make liquids float and create “more effective pharmaceuticals with fewer side effects.” The project’s lead researcher—physicist Chris Benmore—claims that this levitation method will…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Sep 13

How Many Engineering Students Does It Take To Create a Levitating Glowing Light Bulb?

Just one, as Chris Reigler, an electrical engineering student from the University of Queensland in Australia, discovered. His floating LevLight project could one day revolutionize the way we change burnt out light bulbs, and make thousands of “how many X does it take to change a light bulb?” jokes completely moot. The LevLight combines the…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Jul 4

Anti-grav self portraits reveal the everyday life of a person who can levitate

Attractive forces are for suckers. At least that’s what Tokyo photographer Natsumi Hayashi would have you believe. These anti-grav self portraits are just some of the daily “levitations” posted by Hayashi on her photoblog. Notably, these pictures aren’t doctored in any way, with Hayashi preferring to rely on good old-fashioned jumping to create the illusion…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jun 23

Levitation

Sound Waves Let Researchers Build Stuff With the Force

These Hoverboards Might Actually Work…but Only On the Moon

The Future of Grilling Season Is a Levitating Hot Dog Roaster

You Can Levitate Tiny Diamond Particles Using a Cheap Red Laser Pointer

Musk’s Hyperloop Has Nothing on This Quantum Levitation Race Track

Whoa, Dude, This Ball Is Totally Levitating on Sound Waves

A Spinning Top Floating Inside a Smoke-Filled Bubble Looks Like Magic

These Cancer Cells Are Being Levitated Using Magnets

This levitating pumpkin is the best Jack O’ Lantern

Levitating Toy Trains Are the Best Use of Superconductors Yet

This Street Performer Has Mastered One of the Greatest Illusions

Right Now, On the Moon, Dust is Quietly Levitating

Magnetic Levitation Looks Magical in Slow Motion

Watch as scientists levitate these objects with sound waves

Watch These Water Drops Levitate and Form Spinning, Pulsating Stars

Watch a Guy Freak People Out By Floating in the Air on a Moving Bus

Levitating Wireless Candelabra Makes For an Amazing Thanksgiving Centerpiece

Scientists Invent Levitation Method to Create More Effective Drugs

How Many Engineering Students Does It Take To Create a Levitating Glowing Light Bulb?

Anti-grav self portraits reveal the everyday life of a person who can levitate

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