Levitation

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1559579/Physicists-have-%27solved%27-mystery-of-levitation.html

Levitation has been elevated from being pure science fiction to science fact, according to a study reported today by physicists.

In earlier work the same team of theoretical physicists showed that invisibility cloaks are feasible.

Now, in another report that sounds like it comes out of the pages of a Harry Potter book, the University of St Andrews team has created an 'incredible levitation effects’ by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together.

Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, have worked out a way of reversing this pheneomenon, known as the Casimir force, so that it repels instead of attracts.

Their discovery could ultimately lead to frictionless micro-machines with moving parts that levitate But they say that, in principle at least, the same effect could be used to levitate bigger objects too, even a person.

The Casimir force is a consequence of quantum mechanics, the theory that describes the world of atoms and subatomic particles that is not only the most successful theory of physics but also the most baffling.

The force is due to neither electrical charge or gravity, for example, but the fluctuations in all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening empty space between the objects and is one reason atoms stick together, also explaining a “dry glue” effect that enables a gecko to walk across a ceiling.

Now, using a special lens of a kind that has already been built, Prof Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin report in the New Journal of Physics they can engineer the Casimir force to repel, rather than attact.

Because the Casimir force causes problems for nanotechnologists, who are trying to build electrical circuits and tiny mechanical devices on silicon chips, among other things, the team believes the feat could initially be used to stop tiny objects from sticking to each other.

Prof Leonhardt explained, “The Casimir force is the ultimate cause of friction in the nano-world, in particular in some microelectromechanical systems.

Such systems already play an important role - for example tiny mechanical devices which triggers a car airbag to inflate or those which power tiny 'lab on chip’ devices used for drugs testing or chemical analysis.

Micro or nano machines could run smoother and with less or no friction at all if one can manipulate the force.” Though it is possible to levitate objects as big as humans, scientists are a long way off developing the technology for such feats, said Dr Philbin.

The practicalities of designing the lens to do this are daunting but not impossible and levitation “could happen over quite a distance”.

Prof Leonhardt leads one of four teams - three of them in Britain - to have put forward a theory in a peer-reviewed journal to achieve invisibility by making light waves flow around an object - just as a river flows undisturbed around a smooth rock.

This is what I hate about cutting edge science. It's so hard to separate out the complete bullshit from real science. When people talk about science with phrases like "fluctuations in all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening empty space between the objects" I don't know what to make of it anymore.

I'd like to know how the f*ck they figured out how to reverse it. A google search would turn that up, probably...but I'm too lazy.

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
This is what I hate about cutting edge science. It's so hard to separate out the complete bullshit from real science. When people talk about science with phrases like "fluctuations in all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening empty space between the objects" I don't know what to make of it anymore.

...right. It becomes hard to separate the legit scientists from those who exploit peoples' partial but limited understanding of science to push their own agendas (usually beliefs) onto us.

Originally posted by DigiMark007
...right. It becomes hard to separate the legit scientists from those who exploit peoples' partial but limited understanding of science to push their own agendas (usually beliefs) onto us.

Was that sarcasm? 😑

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Was that sarcasm? 😑

No. Plenty of people try to warp the findings of physicists to their own ends. And the general public, aware of such discoveries but not fully versed in them, is not in a position to refute them, however outlandish the claim. It's why we have terms in our society like "quantum consciousness" and "quantum healing." Sounds great when you dress it up with phrases like the one you mentioned, but it doesn't actually make sense...yet people pushing these ideas get money and fame because of it.

haha. This is why Religion pwnz. 131

Who knows where science will take us. I always keep an open mind.

You'd think they'd have more important things to work on, like cures for cancer or AIDS

That's more important?

Originally posted by Strangelove
You'd think they'd have more important things to work on, like cures for cancer or AIDS

Theoretical physicists don't have a ton of skills that are useful in those areas.

Originally posted by Strangelove
You'd think they'd have more important things to work on, like cures for... AIDS

Stop having sex.

sigh, i dont even know where to start. the only levitational effects concerning no friction i know of at microscopic levels is super conductivity and zero resistance due to controlling the spin of electron and other charged particles. a second phenomenon known is the levitating affects of ultra strong magnetic fields{ranging upwards of 20 kilo watt electro magnets in spaces no more than a few centimetres} on organis molecules and the repulsion that results which can literally levitate inorganic matter in a way similar to zero gravity situations.

as for the statement
" fluctuations in all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening empty space between the objects"

he is probably referring to zero point energy and quantum foam, on the other hand, i have seen NOTHING or heard anything that would even remotely suggest that we are even close to understanding the mechanics behind the phenomenon in full, much less utilise it for levitation{basically, theoretically, a gram or so of quantum foam and its constituent quantum ebergy is supposed to be enough to boil all the oceans of the earth. in advanced physics, this is the most energetic reaction that is hypothesized}. anyhow, i try not to read into things which i am not qualified enough to evaluate, and scientists etc who use such layman terminogloy and example are irresponsible as they lay the field open for many psuedo scientists to make mystical interpretation out of the words and trick people. {there was a scientist at the american levitation institue or sumthing who said that he thought the members were manipulating QUANTUM GRAVITY to acheive the fights of super high frog like jumps from a traditional yoga posture, idiotic if you ask me}

Originally posted by Blax_Hydralisk
That's more important?

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Theoretical physicists don't have a ton of skills that are useful in those areas.

psh I saw David Blane do that shit years ago.

Oh yes, and the church community feels that he is possessed by the devil.... 😂 🤣

Originally posted by Strangelove
more important that finding the secret to levitation and invisibility? Fck

Well, considering I have neither cancer nor AIDS... I'd disagree.

I'd like to be able to turn invisible though.

This sort of reminds me of an article I read:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,,1564615,00.html
I guess this falls under wacky science story.

Originally posted by Blax_Hydralisk
Well, considering I have neither cancer nor AIDS... I'd disagree.

I'd like to be able to turn invisible though.

Humanity? No. I'm just a greedy ******* in particular.