Levitation

Levitation refers to raising an object against the force of gravity in such a way that it remains suspended without any physical contact. It is quite possible to do this without leaving the realm of physics, the most usual being magnetic levitation where the force of magnetism is used for this purpose. In terms of pseudoscience it refers to the ability to manage this raising by the power of the human mind. This has never been demonstrated — much less repeated — under controlled conditions and is consequently a pseudoscience.

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Earnshaw's theoremFile:Wikipedia's W.svg is a well established theory stating paramagnetic materialsFile:Wikipedia's W.svg cannot levitate in mid-air in a static enviroment. It was considered for a long time that magnnetic-based levitation was impossible, until in 1984; the spin-stabilized magnetic levitationFile:Wikipedia's W.svg top was patented by Roy M. Harrigan.File:Wikipedia's W.svg[1][2] The theorum wasn't wrong, according to Theodore Gray:[2]

It turns out that Earnshaw's theorem is absolutely correct, but it has a couple of loopholes […] It turns out that precession (the rotation of a spinning object’s axis of spin) creates an island of genuine stability in a way that does not violate Earnshaw's theorem, but that went completely unpredicted by physicists for more than a century.

Physicists were shocked to find that levitation was a reality, all because of a misinterpretation of the theorem. The second loophole involved diamagnetism:File:Wikipedia's W.svg[2]

His theorem only applies to ferromagnetism, the common north/south pole type of magnetism found in most magnets. Diamagnetism is a purely repulsive magnetic force exhibited to varying degrees by all materials in the presence of a magnetic field. Simply drop a chip of graphite, for example, onto a block of magnets and it will float in midair forever.

Harrigan's patent resulted in the creation of a toy called the Levitron,File:Wikipedia's W.svg one variety of which can be seen here:

<iframe src='//www.youtube.com/embed/GMVtlNbMwHw?' width='640' height='360' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'></iframe>

Fake levitation

Stage Magic

Levitation has been a long standing element of stage magic with various tricks being based on objects and people seemingly defying gravity. In reality these tricks uses things like strings or metal poles [3] to make something look like it's floating.

Judaism

Solomon's Carpet is an extra-Biblical Hebrew legend that King Solomon had a flying carpet that was 60 miles long by 60 miles wide.[4] Magic carpetFile:Wikipedia's W.svg legends have also appeared in Arabian (One Thousand and One Nights) and Russian folklore.

Christianity
See the main article on this topic: Christianity

Jesus provides the most well known case of levitation in Christianity by walking on water to his disciples. He is also mistaken for a spirit at first which gives another example of a levitating creature in Christianity.[note 1] More specifically, Catholicism considers levitation to be a symptom of possession by demons, and cause for exorcism.[5] Except when Jesus did it, presumably.

Islam

Solomon's carpet also appears in Qur'an 21:81 and Qur'an 34:12 according to Sunni Qur'an commentator Tafsir Ibn Kathir.[6]

Hinduism
See the main article on this topic: Yogic flying

Galleries

Fake
  • Yogic "flying"
gollark: ~~remove sickness already seriously~~
gollark: That raises the question of how they get the scroll names, but whatever.
gollark: .
gollark: Which we also can't do. How smart
gollark: DROP!

See also

Notes
  1. See Matthew 14:22-33.

References
  1. Levitation device US patent #4382245
  2. Ignorance = Maglev = Bliss: For 150 years scientists believed that stable magnetic levitation was impossible. Then Roy Harrigan came along. by Theodore Gray February 1, 2004. "This spinning top, which hovers above a magnetic base, was patented in 1983 by a Vermonter named Roy Harrigan."
  3. The Levitating Woman – Stage Trick Revealed Rebel Magic
  4. Solomon: Solomon's Carpet by Emil G. Hirsch et al. (1906) 'Jewish Encyclopedia
  5. Demonic Possession & Oppression; Exorcism: Roman Catholic beliefs & practices Religious Tolerance
  6. Fables and Legends of the Quran: Solomon’s Flying Carpet by Sam Shamoun
  7. www.physics.org/facts/frog-really.asp
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