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Mag Surf: Quantum skateboard defies gravity
It isn't quite Marty McFly's "Back to the Future" hoverboard, but this superconductor skateboard built by researchers in France lets you catch air without having to do anything other than put your feet on it. The Mag Surf ride is a couple of inches off the ground, albeit in a straight line and with no change in altitude.
Mag Surf is a demonstration of superconductor magnetic levitation. The board, which vaguely resembles a skateboard, rides on a magnetic track. Super-cold liquid nitrogen turns a special metal material on the bottom of the board into a superconductor, which powerfully repels the magnetic field in the track and pins the board to the edge of the field. The effect is like an invisible rail. (See the video below.)… Read more
