Nothing Up My Sleeve: The Meissner Effect
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Loss of resistance is a pretty cool phenomenon. But that's not all superconductivity has in its bag of tricks. Wait till you get a load of the Meissner Effect.
Indeed, demonstrations of this effect look like a page torn from a magician's notebook. Wacky scientists have made all manner of things levitate using the Meissner Effect, including sumo wrestlers! In this video, a die and frog help to demonstrate this phenomenon.
PHYSICS FACTOID: This phenomenon is referred to more formally as the Meissner-Ochsenfeld Effect, after the two Germans who discovered it in 1933, Walther Meissner and Robert Ochsenfeld.
Abracadabra!
The magic is known as diamagnetism, when a superconducting material excludes the magnetic force of another magnet, thereby forcing that magnet to float on air. You might say that the superconductor adopts a "This town ain't big enough for both of us" mentality.
If you think levitating a small magnet is an impressive feat, try a train! That's exactly what numerous groups of engineers and scientists across the globe have been doing for years, exploiting this property for use in high-speed maglev trains that levitate above the track. By using magnets – either superconducting magnets or regular electromagnets requiring electricity – they eliminate the friction that slows down all other transportation by land.
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