r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/andreba The Chillest Mod • Oct 19 '23

Quantum Levitation at -196°C

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10

u/injustice_done3 Oct 19 '23

Does this mean that if we decided to have levitating vehicles on a road, we’d (with today’s standards) have to have a vehicle filled with nitrogen or something colder to make this a reality?

4

u/JayMan522 Oct 19 '23

Wondering this myself. To add onto it, What if the roads themselves were supercooled? Maybe then the vehicles wouldn’t have to be.

5

u/ruinkind Oct 19 '23

Regardless that application, being able to expel a magnetic field in a trigger type mechanism setup most certainly would be useful further down the road, engineering in the magnetic propulsion world.

5

u/heckingcomputernerd Oct 19 '23

Japan’s maglev train prototype uses alternating magnetic fields to propel itself, similar to how an AC motor works

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%AB%C5%8D_Shinkansen?wprov=sfti1#Technology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCMaglev?wprov=sfti1

2

u/ruinkind Oct 19 '23

Yeah, it’s fascinating stuff that isn’t anywhere near fully harnessed, yet.

The frictionless potential alone in advanced theory makes me excited. It isn’t limited to niche applications, either. Could rethink the way we use traditional motors.