The Physics
Magnetic levitation has moved from futuristic dreams to science class reality, and at the center of it all are maglev magnets. But what exactly are they, and how can they make objects float? In this article, we'll explore how maglev...
Magnetic levitation is a phenomenon that combines physics and wonder, capturing the imagination of anyone who sees it in action. From science enthusiasts to educators, showcasing magnetic levitation is a perfect way to explore advanced scientific principles in a visually...
The scientific world is in turmoil. Room temperature superconductivity has been discovered. Or so it seems. A group of scientists from South Korea (Sukbae Lee, Jihoon Kim, Hyun-Tak Kim, Sungyeon Im, SooMin An, and Keun Ho Auh) published two pre-print (not peer reviewed...
A levitation project stands out at a science fair because nothing else on the table is doing it. The catch is that the best version needs liquid nitrogen, and the version that needs none is a different project with different...
This project levitates a small train on permanent magnets alone — no liquid nitrogen, no cryogenic handling, no special safety kit. That makes it one of the few levitation projects you can build and demonstrate in an ordinary classroom. If...
Cool a disc of YBCO below about 92 K and set it near a magnet, and it does not merely float — it holds position. Push it sideways and it springs back. Turn the whole assembly upside down and it hangs...
A superconductor cooled in liquid nitrogen will hang in mid-air above a magnetic track and glide along it with almost no friction — a real hoverboard, at desk scale. It also makes an unusually strong science fair project, because unlike...
Superconductivity introduces one of the most technically difficult challenges for physicists - designing a measurement setup that will be sensitive to both low (& zero) voltages/resistance and to high voltages/resistance at the same time. Below we give a short review of...
Quantum levitation is the stable levitation and suspension of a superconductor in a magnetic field, and it is the result of two separate phenomena rather than one. The Meissner effect repels magnetic fields from the superconductor's body. Flux pinning traps...
In 1911, Dutch physicist and Nobel Laureate Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered that when you cool the element mercury (Hg) in liquid helium to a temperature of -270°C (-454°F) , it exhibits a phenomenon of zero electrical resistance, which he then called superconductivity. For...
Do we understand what makes a superconductor? Yes, but not entirely. The phenomenology (or the quantitive description of the phenomenon) of superconductivity was quickly developed after first discovered in 1911 (e.g. by London, Abrikosov, Meissner) and scientists could soon describe...
We are happy to offer teachers and educators “Quantum Levitation Booklet", a complete experiment guide that includes theoretical background, quantitive experiments, data analysis and much more. The "Quantum Levitation Booklet" was designed for the Ultimate Classroom Kit.Download Now
YBa2Cu3O7-x crystal images take in Tel-Aviv University using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) Mag x10K Mag x12K Mag x100K Mag x134K
A superconductor is a material that conducts electricity with exactly zero resistance below a certain temperature, and pushes magnetic fields out of its interior while it does so. Both halves of that sentence matter: zero resistance alone would not produce...
