If you take the temperature of a superconductor down to absolute zero (around minus 273.1 centigrade), it ignores gravity and floats.

True? I can't see how it can be, but I've only got a basic knowledge of physics..

Change the thermostat in your freezer for a hardcore one.

no

You can get some interesting magnetic effects with superconductors so you can produce a sort of magnetic levitation, but it's not really 'ignoring gravity'.

EDIT: Wikipedia is your friend- piccy here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconductor

Surely the medium that it is floating in would be solid at that temperature, so it wouldn't float.

Gangway MSc in physics of superconducting materials coming through…

Non physics
You can get it to hover over a magnet, you have to sort of work it into the magnetic field and it will trap the field of the magnet and just sit there (you can spin it) in the field, so those levitating Superconductors have trapped the flux of the magnet and are not ignoring gravity. You can think of it like two magnets repelling each other. But one is trapped in the others flux..

Whilst working it into the magnets field you can decide how close or far awya from the magnet you set it ( whithin limits)

Cheers toys19.

yes what he said above but mine was more basic. You cannot ignore gravity

Surely the medium that it is floating in would be solid at that temperature, so it wouldn't float.

Helium liquifies at 4 kelvin, or so called High temp superconductors in liquid nitrogen at 77kelvin. Anyway you can bring the superconductor dwon to temp and remove it from the liquid nitrogen, then you have a good few minutes to do your tricks until it warms up. If its floating it'll take longer to heat up as the only warming is by radiation and convection of air, takes a suprisingly long time..

Where did the original quote come from?

The levitation thing is all about the meissner effect – I had to read the wiki link to remind me of that, I last did anything on supercondcutivity in 1998….

Physicists..

are sexy. 🙂
And STW is full of lovely information. 🙂

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