For those of you who don’t/won’t click the link, the creators have somehow managed to make a maglev hoverboard that works on non-ferromagnetic surfaces. I want to do some more research as I don’t see how this works.
I so want to believe that this is the real deal. I wonder if they can get Micheal J Fox to be a spokesperson?
It still needs a conductive surface so you won’t be riding it down the sidewalk anytime in the foreseeable future.
Sounds like nonsense, no real claims made on that web site.
That “debunker” is a retard. He states, “Lol, that ain’t no hoverboard. It’s just magnets, tards” Uh, yeah dipshit, they tell you in the video and on the website they get the board to levitate using,…wait for it,…wait for it,…wait for it,…magnets.
A little more on the theory.
You are right zoid; I do think that this has a lot of potential in other applications. i wish i had the funds to play with one of those whiteboxes on the KS page, it looks like fun.
There’s no indication they’ve found a way to levitate without a magnetic surface underneath.
Not true. Here is a different demonstration using an aluminum plate. the principle is the same as the hoverboard. The trick is that the other surface has to be sufficiently conductive and non-ferromagnetic, otherwise the board will simply stick to the surface.
That’s got magnetic fields above and below, it’s not going to make a stand-alone hoverboard.
Not yet. If the technology allows us to make near room temp superconductors then it should be possible to go over water with this thing or a later iteration, which is closer to BTTF, and nonetheless this thing is pretty cool.
I gotta say the more I read this thread the more this thing sounds like BS.
No, it only has a coil below the plate. Just the reverse of the Hendo configuration.
There’s nothing even remotely surprising that this should be possible. It’s a form of electrodynamic suspension. A moving or time-varying magnet can induce an eddy current in a conductor, and those eddy currents produce their own field.
You can see a passive version of the same effect in this video. Because it’s passive, the system cannot stop the magnet completely, but you can see that the effect is still quite powerful. With an active system like the Hendo there’s no reason why it couldn’t levitate itself indefinitely.
The Hendo Kickstarter does seem a little scammy to me, but as best I can tell they haven’t said anything incorrect. It’s more just the implication that this is some world-changing thing when really it’s a pretty well-known effect of somewhat limited utility.
(bolding mine)
So there is a magnetic field above and below, right?
A hoverboard with an active base to float on is entirely feasible now using just permanent magnets in the board and electromagnets in the base, but not really what a hoverboard is supposed to be.
You made it sound like there are separate magnetic coils above and below the board, which is not the case. If that’s not what you meant, I apologize for misreading you.
That said–yes, there are two magnetic fields: one, in the part containing either the permanent magnet or electromagnets; and the other in the conductive plate, which is an induced field. These fields repel each other and produce the levitation.
This has to be the case, of course–a magnetic field can only push on another magnetic field. That’s just how they work and nothing on the Hendo site implies otherwise as best I can tell.
I would say there’s a large difference in practicality between a levitation device that requires actively driven electromagnets in the base vs. one that can operate on passive sheets of aluminum or copper. Still not enough to make the board “worth it”, IMHO, but possibly good enough for a few practical uses.
Don’t worry about it, we’re just getting on the same page.