Well, we’re officially in the future. Hoverboards are actually a thing –and a real thing, not like the frauds that keeping popping up.
Frauds like those water-propelled things. While they look fun, they’re not a real hoverboard. Sure, you’re technically hovering on a board, but it’s not what we wanted. And then there was this soul-crushing bit of editing trickery that made everyone’s day for an hour, then basically spat in our faces when the truth came out. Still a little ticked off with Tony Hawk for that one, to be honest.
For anyone that grew up in the ’80s, hoverboards were one of those things that just needed to happen. There was no way around it. Every kid wearing Doc Martins and a fanny pack (for the record, I wore neither) just knew that one day, they’d be cruising around a foot or two above the pavement. Thank Marty McFly for making an entire generation wait nearly three tortuous decades.
The wait is over. For real, this time. A company called Hendo figured out something that, until now, just had too many issues. If you had a childhood, you will remember that if you try and push two magnets together with the same poles facing each other, it’s really, really hard. They push back against each other and kind of roll off to the sides. So you’d think that levitation would be pretty simple – just stand on a magnet facing another magnet, and you’re whipping around in self-lacing shoes and the world’s nicest Toyota pickup. But because of something called Earnshaw’s Theorem, getting two magnets to achieve and maintain equilibrium is impossible. So here’s where Hendo figured out how to make our lives infinitely more awesome. Using something called Lenz’s Law, which basically says that when magnets are moved near material that is conductive, currents that work like eddies in a river occur. These eddies make a magnetic field in the conductor that opposes the other magnet. Hendo created a technology called Magnetic Field Architecture (awesome name) which takes those eddies that generally swirl around and focusses them, effectively creating a stable magnet to magnet field. Or, in layman’s terms, a FREAKING HOVERBOARD.
See that? It’s a real hoverboard. You can die happy!
Right now, they’re still in development, and of course, they’re turning to crowdfunding to get the hoverboard off the ground – pun intended. The Hendo board floats about one inch off the ground, and needs a special park with a non-ferromagnetic conductor underneath. They’ve designed one already (below), and as part of their Kickstarter project, you can can buy a brick with your name engraved on it. When the park opens, you’ll have your name about an inch under your hoverboard. Although they’ve designed the park, they’re still working on the technology. They expect that sometime in the near future, you’ll be able ride a hoverboard over any medium, including water. They don’t get into their plans, but I, for one, will take them at their word. They’re the only ones that finally did it, after all. So, children of the ’80s, you can finally stop holding your breath.
