• Question: if hover boards or hover scooters didn't use strong fans, what would they use (e.g. magnets or forces).

    Asked by Certi People to Clare, Glafkos, Paul, Samantha on 9 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Samantha Terry

      Samantha Terry answered on 9 Mar 2015:

      magnets all the way!

    • Photo: Clare Devery

      Clare Devery answered on 9 Mar 2015:

      Ooh this is an interesting question! I had to look this one up on wikipedia as I had no idea what stage hover board technology was at! I read on there that there have been several models developed using magnets.

      They work using the very strong attractive or repulsive forces of a magnetic field. You’ve probably felt this force before if you’ve ever tried to bring two magnets close together. But the magnets used for making hover boards would be much stronger than magnets sold in shops.

      As an MRI physicist, we use magnets daily for MRI scanning. There are massive safety issues associated with this (as I’ve mentioned on my profile, have a look on there for more information!) So knowing this, and the associated difficulties involved, unfortunately I can’t see magnetic hover boards becoming commercially available anytime soon!

    • Photo: Paul Booker

      Paul Booker answered on 9 Mar 2015:

      Yeah I agree magnets are the way to go! Although we may not be able to get our on personal hoverboards, MagLev (magnetic levitation) trains exist in lots of places – you may even have been on one! For example airport shuttles, used to take you between terminal buildings are often MagLev technology.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      Magnets would work.. but would it be practical to put magnets everywhere?

    • Photo: Glafkos Havariyoun

      Glafkos Havariyoun answered on 11 Mar 2015:

      Ye magnets sound OK but I don’t think it’ll happen due to the safety issues mentioned by the other guys.

      How about steam ? What if solar cells became efficient enough that it would be easy to boil water. Then we could use pressured steam (don’t know how much we need to lift a person and a hover craft) to lift up and steer it for changing direction. It would be pretty eco-friendly right?

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