It helps having a husband who's a physicist! We had great fun doing this. I got to play with a superconductor, a magnet and liquid nitrogen (77 degrees Kelvin)
I used a single, off camera flash for the lighting and a black background.
Notes from my husband:
Below a critical temperature, a superconductor become a perfect metal in that electricity flows through it with zero resistance. Above the critical temperature, which depends on the composition of the material, the substance has normal properties including resistance. "Y-Ba-Cu-O" is a compound that is a relatively new category that has a critical temperature high enough it can be cool to superconducting by liquid nitrogen (77K) instead of liquid helium (4K). This makes it a lot easier to play around with. It is also interesting that above the critical temperature YBaCuO is actually a ceramic and not metallic at all, so its superconductivity was initially a big surprise.
The Meissner Effect is a byproduct of superconductivity. It refers to the effect that magnetic fields are completely excluded from the inside of the superconductor. (Magnetic fields result from moving charges - so a current is made on the surface that counter acts any external magnetic field.) The small cube is a rare earth magnet (i.e. strong). The field on the surface of the superconductor is repelling the small magnet.
youtube has videos of this experiment.
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Okay this is really really late, (did I mention how busy I was LOL) This was a really excellent image I am impressed by both you and your husband. And you were worried about the point race. I bet your aren't worried anymore.
LOVE this! It is so cool to see your amazing photographic technique applied to such a different subject and so successfully :-) As a scientist, I fully appreciate this image and all it took to achieve!
OMG it really is a YBaCuO superconductor at 77K... I was waiting for the challenge end hopeing the photographer posted how they did that... LOL
Great Job!! Congratulations not only on the ribbon but also spelling the title... :^)
Another that I don't come close to understanding (Meissner Effect? YBaCuO superconductor?) but I do get "magnetic levitation", love the lighting, the frosty look of the metal chip, and especially the vapor hovering around and behind. Cool shot -- one of my top ten.
Magnetic levitation due to the Meissner Effect in a YBaCuO superconductor at 77K
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