Floating on sound waves

January 8th, 2007

Just before Christmas I promised you a trio of resonance videos, and accordingly here is the final installment. Acoustic levitation is not purely about resonance, but resonance does play a part in the process. By directing sound waves in a specific manner, scientists can levitate objects up to a few kilograms(!), and even turn them about different axes (plural of axis, anyone?). Acoustic levitation chambers are used for handling highly corrosive materials and for microgravity research. Cool!

See the Video!

Not to be outdone, scientists at the Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an, China, had been working on acoustic levitation, directing ultrasound at metals. As boys with expensive toys are prone to do, they started wondering what else they could levitate, and so ants, spiders, beetles and bees all ended up joyriding in the levitation chamber (link).

Entry Filed under: Awesome Science Videos

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