After months of teasing and marketing, automaker Lexus finally showcased its answer to the decades-long quest of achieving a functioning maglev hoverboard — yes, I’m talking magnetic levitation, not that DIY reverse vacuum cleaner thing. The board may be not be as high-flying and acrobatic as media has conditioned to dream of, but it appears to be a unique experience in traversal that even professional-skaterboarder Ross McGouran was having a difficult adjusting to.
The underlying science that pushes against gravity and keeps the rider afloat uses no electricity at all; instead, it’s based on superconductors, magnets, and liquid nitrogen. By cooling the superconductive material to -321 degrees Fahrenheit, the magnetic field between it and the magnetic track becomes locked, generating a floating effect.
“The magnetic track has a certain magnetic field configuration and this configuration is also present in the superconductor and when they are cooled down, then the field configuration is frozen in and then superconductor stays in this position. It’s an art in material science,” explains Professor Ludwig Schultz, the pioneer of superconducting levitation.
To capture that cool footage of Ross testing the board in an actual skate park, the team needed covered an entire park in ultra-thin magnetic material. “The feeling of no friction and floating is really difficult to describe what it feels like. I started skating when I was 7 or 8 and now it feels like I’m starting from the beginning,” states Ross as he describes his experience in the video above.
While there’s no indication of whether Lexus plans to sell the device, a Bloomberg report suggests it’ll begin a new series of tests in Barcelona this summer. Also, as impressive as the board appears, it’s actually one of many that’ve popped up over the last few years. Some of you may remember the Hendo board we covered back in October.
Source: Wired
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