Awesome Levitating Train



Have a look below if you want to try to figure out how it works, or simply kick off your shoes, hit play and enjoy the ride.


The core of the bearings consists of a magnetic rail and super-conducting bulks, cooled to a temperature of -196°C. During the cooling process, the magnetic field of the rail will be written in the superconductors, which are positioned at a set distance from the magnetic rail. This enables them to retain a set horizontal position in relation to the rail. Their super-conducting operational temperature is maintained in cryostats, initially through cooling in liquid nitrogen.


Link [YouTube] - via Prylefeber

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Boy, am I glad they explained it. I have a clear and complete understanding of it now.

In other words, I still don't get it - something to do with magnets.
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I'm not sure the explanation for this is quite correct-- superconductors don't "trap magnetic fields", they expel them, via something known as the Meissner effect.

If a superconductor is placed in a magnetic field, electric currents will be induced in the superconductor to exactly counter the magnetic field created by the magnet, making the magnetic field inside the superconductor exactly zero.

As for the previous comment, there are actually "machine ways to super refridgerate"-- known as closed cycle refrigerators. By the cyclical condensation and condensation of helium gas, these cryo-coolers can achieve temperatures below that of liquid nitrogen, 77 kelvin (though not that of liquid helium, 4 kelvin)

Since the induced magnetic field of the superconductor is at all times exactly countering the field of the magnet, an equal and opposite force is created, resulting in the levitation effect.

This is also why the train can go around corners--as the magnetic field from the track changes (i.e, the track curves) the field in the superconductor changes to exactly counter it, and the train goes around in a circle.
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