Magnetic levitation is used for a variety of applications, from trains to lamps, allowing objects to hover in the air, but it usually requires a power source. Scientists in Japan have developed a floating platform made from ordinary graphite material that doesn’t need an external power source. This means we could see home appliances floating in the air without energy.
Floating home appliances: Energy-free levitation
This new discovery was made possible thanks to the natural high diamagnetic properties of graphite. The floating graphite home appliances can hover over magnets for a short time, but electric currents passing through the graphite cause energy loss and make the levitated object fall, a phenomenon known as eddy damping.
To solve this issue and pave the way for floating home appliances, researchers coated graphite particles with electrically insulating silica and then mixed the silica-coated graphite particles with beeswax to create a sheet about 1 cm2 in size.
During this process, the graphite retained its diamagnetic properties, and the silica coating prevented energy loss. This new platform system could lead to new types of sensors that measure power, acceleration, and gravity. Another version for more precise quantum sensors uses a feedback magnetic force that continually corrects the platform’s vertical movements.
However, this version has the disadvantage of requiring an external power source. This research was published in the journal Applied Physics Letters. The levitated graphite composite plate can be seen in the video below.
This development theoretically could enable lightweight home appliances to float, but there are practical limitations. The levitation platform made of graphite currently can only hold small, lightweight objects in the air and requires a specific magnetic infrastructure.
Using this technology to keep home appliances in the air would be possible if the appliances are manufactured according to this technology. Safety, cost, and practical applicability are also factors that could influence the widespread adoption of such applications.
This innovative technology as a power-free method of magnetic levitation could enable new applications in many different fields. What other technological advancements do you think the method developed by Japanese scientists could lead to in the future? We invite you to discuss these and related questions. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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