Already
in 1842, British mathematician Samuel Earnshaw proved that there is no stable
configuration of levitating permanent magnets. If one magnet is levitated above
another, the smallest disturbance will cause the system to crash. The magnetic
top, a popular toy, circumvents the Earnshaw theorem: When it is disturbed,
the gyrating motion of the top causes a system correction and stability is
maintained.
In
collaboration with researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Quantum
Optics, Munich, physicists in Oriol Romero-Isart's research group at the
Institute for Theoretical Physics, Innsbruck University, and the Institute for
Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, have now
shown that: "In the quantum world, tiny non-gyrating nanoparticles can
stably levitate in a magnetic field." "Quantum mechanical properties
that are not noticeable in the macroscopic world but strongly influence nano
objects are accountable for this phenomenon," says Oriol Romero-Isart.
Stability
caused by gyromagnetic effect on nano-partcles which can be collected together
to make impossible nano-based suspensions. Like flying skateboards in “back to
future”. Or wheels for hyperloops. 21st is on us Faster, blind as we
are on exponential curves.