Researchers use superconductor to make egg stand up and levitate

By Lim Chang-won Posted : August 20, 2019, 11:17 Updated : August 20, 2019, 11:17
 


 

[An image captured from the website of KERI ]

SEOUL -- Using a superconductor cooled by liquid nitrogen, South Korean researchers showed a new way to make an egg stand up or levitate, claiming it is beyond the level of Tesla's Egg of Columbus.

A magnet was glued to the bottom of an egg placed on a superconductor cooled with liquid nitrogen. Persistent electric current flows on the surface of the superconductor, acting to exclude the magnetic field of the magnet. This current effectively forms an electromagnet that repels the magnet.

The Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) said its research team led by KERI President Choe Gyu-ha has successfully made an egg stand up by utilizing superconductivity technology. "The advanced electrical technology that makes imagination a reality will dramatically change our lives in the future," Choe said.

The KERI team compared its method to Tesla's Egg of Columbus that used a rotating magnetic field that moves polarities in which its opposite poles rotate about a central point or axis.

Superconductivity is physical properties observed in certain materials, wherein electrical resistance vanishes and from which magnetic flux fields are expelled. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases gradually as its temperature is lowered, a superconductor has a characteristic critical temperature below which the resistance drops abruptly to zero.

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