Levitation, from hovercrafts to holograms (emf2026)

Levitation is a popular trope of magical media, but are we actually able to defy gravity and suspend things in the air?

The short answer is yes. And the longer answer is we have lots of different ways.

Using magnets, sound, light, and more we’ve levitated objects from single cells to entire passenger trains.

We’ll go over the basic principles underpinning each approach, and consider their benefits and drawbacks, and we’ll also cover why you should care - because making stuff levitate can be useful for reasons you might not think, like making better drugs, creating holograms or improving transport networks between cities.

Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
about this event: https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/218-levitation-from-hovercrafts-to-holograms