Ceramics and Quantum Levitation

About this video

A super cool levitator.

Taken from his BBC series 'How It Works', material scientist and Christmas Lecturer Mark Miodownik looks at an unusual property of superconductors called quantum levitation.

At room temperature the ceramic known as Yttrium barium copper oxide has no interaction with magnets, nor does it conduct electricity. However if cooled below -196 degrees Celsius something rather different begins to happen. It becomes a superconductor.

You can learn more about materials with Mark Miodownik in his Christmas Lecture series here. You can also see another great quantum levitation demo here.