Awesome Levitation

This fascinating tabletop showpiece features a miniature replica of our solar system. It uses magnetic levitation tech to float accurate models of each planet in orbit around the sun. The positions of each planet are synchronized in real-time using NASA data, and it’s available with a light-up sun. You can also accelerate the orbital speed for faster action.

It’s easy to float a ping pong ball above a diagonal stream of air thanks to the Coandă effect. Mark Rober of Crunchlabs wanted to see what could be lifted with a stronger wind source than a blow dryer, so he subjected various household items to a high-pressure jet of compressed air.

Take a trip into space with this levitating planet lamp from Levitos. The illuminated planet floats and spins about 0.75″ above its base using electromagnetic induction technology and casts a colorful glow from inside of its orb. The planet and base measure about 5.25″ wide.

Cooling yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) to -180°C creates a superconductor that levitates when placed in a magnetic field. Magnetic Games demonstrates the strange physics at play using powerful neodymium magnets for the supercooled puck to interact with. Turn captions on for more details.

This unique wooden clock tells time using a hidden LED display behind its face, while a floating metal sphere orbits around its perimeter. In addition to a standard clock mode, it works as a timer or counts down to an important event. RGB or warm white LED backlighting give it an extra pop.

After wowing us with his self-solving Rubik’s Cube, maker Human Controller takes things to another level by making his miniature puzzle machine magnetically levitate while solving itself. We’ve been assured there are no visual tricks here.

Physicsfun presents a brief demonstration of one of the more interesting motors we’ve seen – the Mendocino motor uses magnets and a solar energy source to levitate as it spins. You can pick up a similar version for your own desk over on Amazon.

The Moon camera has a base that allows for magnetic levitation and wireless charging. But it’s more than a floating eye. It can rotate itself towards a source of sound, and act as a home automation controller. It even has an IR blaster to control older appliances.

We’ve seen several objects that use magnetic levitation. This floating pillow lets you show off the precious items that you already own. It’s strong enough to lift jewelry, watches and other small items. The base comes in wired and wireless models, and three colors.

A limited edition of Richard Clarkson’s mesmerizing, levitating lamp. The Floating Cloud 2.0 is equipped with RGB LEDs and has an equalizer mode that makes the LEDs flash to the beat of external sound. It’s limited to only 100 units.

The Mag-Lev Audio turntable uses magnets to make the platter float for the ultimate in vibration isolation. It also has an orange LED, a UPS to make sure the platter won’t fall when the power goes out, a Pro-Ject 8.6 tonearm and an Ortofon OM 5E cartridge.

Combining the ideas of his cloud lamp with the levitating Bluetooth speaker, Richard Clarkson Studio and Crealev teamed up to build this uniquely awesome sound system which features a floating storm cloud with a built in wireless speaker. Shut up and take our money.

While we dream about the future of racing, the Japan Institute of Science and Technology build sweet tracks for Wipeout model vehicles and race them using quantum levitation.