No longer exclusively for swamis and magic carpet riders, levitation is now officially within the realm of possibility. Scientists in the U.S. have discovered a way to levitate small objects, creating a host of new possibilities for nanotechnology.
Using prior knowledge of quantum mechanics and his experience in applied physics from his work at Bell Labs, Federico Capasso of Harvard University began researching what’s known as the Casimir force which causes tiny metal parts to become attracted to one another when they come in close contact, an effect called stiction. Earlier, a Russian team had theorized that this force could be reversed, so that the metal parts would be repelled rather than drawn together.
For the experiment, Capasso and his team observed the force applied to a gold sphere as it was first attracted to a metal object and then subsequently repelled from a plate made of silica.
The possibility of levitation could create frictionless moving parts in machines, making wear and tear a thing of the past. Theoretically.
You can find the MSNBC article here.
