Future toys: Superconducting MagLev train set

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007. Some posts he’d like you to read: The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin His personal website is coldewey.cc. → Learn More

Now, this isn’t something you’d want to give your kid, becuase the engine is a superconductor cooled to hundreds of degrees below zero by liquid nitrogen. And you thought the tire swing sounded dangerous! Still, if you’re the proud mom or dad of a budding physicist or materials engineer, this might be the perfect supervised plaything. The video does a better job of explaining the thing than I ever could, so just come back to the end of this paragraph when it’s finished. Done? Okay.

Now, imagine if that liquid nitrogen reservoir had a dilating opening you could control the aperture of via a remote control. You could control the height of the magnet, and then with a couple of little propellers, its speed as well. Because the train holds extremely well to the track, you could set up a pretty freaky little railroad. Yeah, I’m going to stop talking now, I’m geeking out.
[via Reddit and Monkey Review]

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