Muzz
30th September 2011, 19:38
'Flying carpet' of conductive plastic takes flight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6HV6tvbCiY
A miniature magic carpet made of plastic has taken flight in a laboratory at Princeton University.
The 10cm (4in) sheet of smart transparency is driven by "ripple power"; waves of electrical current driving thin pockets of air from front to rear underneath.
The prototype, described in Applied Physics Letters, moves at speeds of about a centimetre per second.
Improvements to the design could raise that to as much as a metre per second.
link (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15106231)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6HV6tvbCiY
A miniature magic carpet made of plastic has taken flight in a laboratory at Princeton University.
The 10cm (4in) sheet of smart transparency is driven by "ripple power"; waves of electrical current driving thin pockets of air from front to rear underneath.
The prototype, described in Applied Physics Letters, moves at speeds of about a centimetre per second.
Improvements to the design could raise that to as much as a metre per second.
link (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15106231)