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Levitating pumpkins! Halloween science



The Royal Institution

“And the cursed pumpkin rose up from the earth, carried to the sky by the spirits of All Hallows’ Eve.” Or in other words, Andy put a superconductor in a pumpkin and levitated it on a magnetic track.
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Happy Halloween! To celebrate this year we thought we’d have some fun with a pumpkin and superconductor. Inspired by this previous video (http://youtu.be/zPqEEZa2Gis), Andy took to the prep room to imbue a cheerful pumpkin with the eerie powers of superconductor levitation.

Watch last year’s explosive pumpkin exploits here: http://youtu.be/jPrjBJt02ek

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24 thoughts on “Levitating pumpkins! Halloween science
  1. Imagine you made this with a big pumpkin. lit the outside on fire. Then had it charge at children who approach your house on halloween. Right before it gets to them it cranks a turn and disappears back in to the darkness. They would run so hard and so fast away

  2. Hi Ri, Does the superconductor exert a force on the track and if so what would be the size of that force relative to weight.

  3. Would it work in space, since there is no gravity pulling it to the track,
    and thus not creating the necessary currents needed for this to happen?

  4. now a slight improvement comes to mind: a tiny hole at the back through which the gas could exit will provide a small jet to drive the object. nicely done nevertheless

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