- Guys, let's wrap this up quickly.
I gotta get back in time.
Happy back to the future day everybody.
As your probably aware,
October 21st, 2015,
is the date Marty McFly travels
too in Back to the Future two.
And while we don't have Jaws 19
or a fax machine in every room,
we do have hoverboards.
Sort of.
Every since the film came out kids and,
and let's be honest here,
plenty of adults,
have been aching to get their hands
on a hoverboard.
After the films release there were rumors
that toy companies had actually
developed the technology,
but deemed it too dangerous to sell
to the general public.
In 2014, a viral video claimed that a new
product called huvr,
thats H-U-V-R,
had brought the hoverboard to life.
The video featured Tony Hawk,
Christopher Lloyd,
and other celebrities all of whom
expressed wonder at the technology.
But the truth is, it was a joke.
The effects were all done with
wires, harnesses and some
digital manipulation.
But don't despair!
We do have some examples
of real hoverboards.
First, a few DIY enthusiast
have attempted to
build a sort of hoverboard-drone-hybrid.
These gadgets use rotors to provide lift.
They don't quite fit the
skateboard form factor in.
They are pretty loud but, it's a start.
Then there's the approach Lexus took
in a marketing campaign.
Engineers used an
interesting qwerk of physics.
They paired super conductors
with magnetic fields.
When cooled to insanely low temperatures,
super conductors can
lock to a magnetic field
and levitate.
The downsides to this approach are that
you need a supply of
liquid nitrogen to keep
your super conductors cold.
And you can only ride the hoverboard
over magnets.
And then we have the Hendo hoverboard.
Which held a kick started campaign.
And if you pledged at the $10,000 level.
Congratulations.
You know have a Hendo hoverboard.
The updated release was unveiled today.
This hoverboard uses electro magnets
and must operate on top of a copper
surface to levitate.
The super cool thing is the Hendo
hoverboard is really a proof of concept.
It uses a technology called
magnetic field architecture.
A term coin by founder Greg Henderson.
Henderson's long term
goal is to incorporate
this design into actual
buildings and other
large structures.
Why?
Because is could save lives and billions
of dollars if you could
simply levitate a bulding
to avoid an earthquake or flood.
As Marty Mcfly would say,
"That's heavy".
And moreover I'd say it makes our
actual future look even crazier then what
we saw in Back to the Future part two.
And as my name sake in Back to the Future,
Principal Strickland would say,
"Don't be a slacker".
Be sure to come back to
now.howstuffworks.com
everyday for more of the coolest news
going on right now.
