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2007-09-15

Physicists have 'solved' mystery of levitation

From the article "Physicists have 'solved' mystery of levitation":

Levitation has been elevated from being pure science fiction to science fact, according to a study reported today by physicists.
In theory the discovery could be used to levitate a person

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.

The levitation is achieved using the Casimir Effect, which normally
is an attractive force, but is turned into a repulsive force in this instance. The most likely immediate application of the new levitation effect is to eliminate friction in micromachines.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Alan,
Have this solved "levitation" mystery even been peer-reviewed yet?

If not, you really should read the book, "Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction : Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins".
Hopefully this will help you understand how science work and what is pseudoscience.

Looks like to me that this is "cold-fusion"-type PR - making an announcement before being peer-reviewed.....