Lexus has created a real live hoverboard and it’s incredible (Video)
The futuristic times that everyone has always imagined have arrived with Lexus’ latest innovation.
If you’ve ever wanted to be Marty McFly in Back To The Future 2 and ride your hoverboard down the street, we’re closer now than we’ve ever been before. That’s because Lexus has actually created a real, functional freaking hoverboard:
I’ll give everyone a second to process what they just saw.
Now that you’re aware that you just saw people riding a hoverboard, onto how it works. Sam Sheffer was able to ride the hoverboard and talked about his experience on The Verge. In that, he explained that the board works as a result of superconductors, liquid nitrogen, and magnets.
The board itself is composed of ceramic tiles, which serve as the superconductors. Those tiles are then cooled with liquid nitrogen to -180 degrees Celcius. The board is then set on a track composed of magnets and wooden planks are placed beneath the superconductors in the board. Once the tiles reach their critical temperature, a phenomenon known as flux pinning occurs. In short, flux pinning means that the reaction between the cooled superconductors and the magnets causes the board to get stuck in the magnetic field and, in essence, levitate.
There are a few things we can take from the science that make this work. For one, it’s not cheap or something that’s going to be available for public use anytime soon. Secondly and sadly, this board isn’t going to work on a regular sidewalk or at your local skate park; it requires that specially constructed magnetic track. Thirdly, it’s still awesome.
Even if this isn’t going to be on the shelves at your local retailer anytime soon, Lexus has pulled something incredible off here. Even if this is just for promotional purposes, we know that something like a hoverboard is feasible. That means we are just one step closer to living the Marty McFly dream:
H/T to For The Win