Physicists Have Modified Casmir Effect to Repel Objsects Instead of Attract

This seems to be a rather big breakthrough. According to the article, this advancement could ultimately lead to 'frictionless micromachines.' The article can explain all of this better than I ever could, so enjoy.

Now, in another report that sounds like it comes out of the pages of a Harry Potter book, the University of St Andrews team has created an 'incredible levitation effects’ by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together.

Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, have worked out a way of reversing this pheneomenon, known as the Casimir force, so that it repels instead of attracts.

www.telegraph.co.uk...




[edit on 5-6-2008 by zephyrs]

This is very interesting, I've heard of the casimir effect before, but never knew in too much detail what it was. I wonder how long it will be till we see the first working models?

This story is about a year old, and has been covered on ATS before, but it is still interesting.

I don't know what progress, if any, has been made with the reverse Casimir force described in the article, but the 'normal' attractive Casimir force has been repeatedly demonstrated in laboratories and is part of mainstream science, taught in universities.

reply to post by DragonsDemesne


This is simply the levitron..





You can view many other video's of the Levitron here

Google: - You Tube Levitron

If you would like to learn about the Physics of the Levitron then you may visit the following white papers.

Simple theory for the Levitron

Spin stabilized magnetic levitation

These physics were discovered in the 19th century and so is not exactly a new discovery, however it is bloody interesting..

I own a Cherry Wood Levitron and use it regularly to wow visitors..

The Levitron is not a powered device and as such it will only last a few minutes due to air resistance causing the spin of the top to slow down. Also fluctuations in the stability of the field cause the top to slow.

You can however buy a perpetuator that will increase the levitation to days on end. It works by EMD at the correct frequency to keep the top spinning.



If you would like to buy a Levitron you can by following this link...

Buy: - Levitron

Hope that helps,

All the best,

NeoN HaZe

[edit on 7-6-2008 by Neon Haze]

Sorry double Post...

[edit on 7-6-2008 by Neon Haze]