- #1
CrazyEgg
- 30
- 0
hi,
A teacher at school was demonstrating some of the properties of superconductors and that got me thinking if it would be possible to get a person to hover. I did a bit of research and it seems that not only is this possible but it's already been done. I saw some videos of small toy vehicles with superconductors going around a magnetic track and I was just wondering if it could be scaled up?
My idea was basically a 100 metre long magnetic track with a loop in the middle and have a person sitting on a board (to keep centre of gravity low) which has a high temperature superconductor attached (with some liquid nitrogen to keep it cool for the length of the track).
The two problems I see are speed, and the forces acting when in the loop.
First the speed problem, which is if the rider will have enough sped to complete the loop if he can only gain speed like the way a skateboard rider gains speed on the flat (using his foot)
The second problem is, will the meissner effect keep the rider from falling off when he is going through the loop?
The speed problem could be solved by having a setup similar to what a maglev uses to accelerate the rider to the optimum speed so he will clear the loop (or use gravity to gain speed).
Not sure about the second problem, will the magnet + superconductor setup allow for manoeuvres similar to rollercoasters (loops, high G turns and straight up/down vertical movement)
Also I'm not planning on building this or anything, because it would be ridiculously expensive, just finding out if it would work.
You can't build a magnet rink about 100m sq. and then use the superconductor board to move freely across the rink can you? or does it only work with one axis i.e. you can only move in the x-axis but not in both x & y-axis at the same time.
A teacher at school was demonstrating some of the properties of superconductors and that got me thinking if it would be possible to get a person to hover. I did a bit of research and it seems that not only is this possible but it's already been done. I saw some videos of small toy vehicles with superconductors going around a magnetic track and I was just wondering if it could be scaled up?
My idea was basically a 100 metre long magnetic track with a loop in the middle and have a person sitting on a board (to keep centre of gravity low) which has a high temperature superconductor attached (with some liquid nitrogen to keep it cool for the length of the track).
The two problems I see are speed, and the forces acting when in the loop.
First the speed problem, which is if the rider will have enough sped to complete the loop if he can only gain speed like the way a skateboard rider gains speed on the flat (using his foot)
The second problem is, will the meissner effect keep the rider from falling off when he is going through the loop?
The speed problem could be solved by having a setup similar to what a maglev uses to accelerate the rider to the optimum speed so he will clear the loop (or use gravity to gain speed).
Not sure about the second problem, will the magnet + superconductor setup allow for manoeuvres similar to rollercoasters (loops, high G turns and straight up/down vertical movement)
Also I'm not planning on building this or anything, because it would be ridiculously expensive, just finding out if it would work.
You can't build a magnet rink about 100m sq. and then use the superconductor board to move freely across the rink can you? or does it only work with one axis i.e. you can only move in the x-axis but not in both x & y-axis at the same time.