Light as Air

Overcoming gravity is an age-old dream, which we can’t expect to see fulfilled anytime soon. However, we can come closer to making it reality on a small scale. Commercial levitation devices that cause a small piece of metal – often with some sort of covering – to hover in the air have been available for many years. A coil provides the lifting force, and a light barrier is used to regulate the levitation height. This causes the levitated metal object to maintain a defined distance from the core of the coil. Many of these devices are more expensive than need be.