>Could the person who posted a while back about
>frictionless maglev bearings mail me? You sounded like you knew what you
>were talking about. Or I'll talk to anyone else, if we have other
>engineers in the group.
Briefly, the magnetic flux through a superconductor has to remain constant,
which leads to what is known as the "Meissner effect". If you move a
magnet close to a superconductor, the superconductor will repel the magnet
as if it were a magnetic monopole of the opposite polarity. There are two
ways to make a maglev bearing: either take a superconducting shell or donut
and put a magnet in the center, or take a magnetic shell or donut and put
a superconductor in the center. Take such a widget and put it in a vacuum,
and you have about as close to a frictionless bearing as you can get.
- -- PTD --
- --
Palmer T. Davis ____
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