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Idea for electromagnetic hover car (maglev car)?

  1. May 23, 2013 #1
    Hey guys,
    I am just a simple high school student in a one-year physics course who wants to improve his ability in applied science and using physics to create new things (my dream is to be an inventor)

    I always had this idea of a Maglev (electromagnetic) hover car where it uses the messier effect and superconductivity for magnetic levitation and Faraday’s electromagnetic induction principal to generate electricity give it the ability to recharge its motor if it runs on newly built magnetic roads.

    I am a high school junior, a first-year physics high school student, so I don’t know if my physics reasoning is good enough and if I am actually typing in wrong physics concepts on this page right now.

    I personally thought it was a stupid idea at first, but ever since I saw the Volkswagen commercial, I thought that since people are actually trying to create this, it isn’t so stupid and is actually possible


    I may attempt to make a mini-model of the car, doing experiments for each concept to see if they will actually work and eventually start putting things together.

    Main concepts
    Electromagnetic suspension (Meissner effect)
    By using a superconductor and using extremely low temperatures, it will allow electromagnetic suspension to be created and give the car the ability to levitate.

    Possible experiement: Use liquid nitrogen to cool a superconductor/magnet and place it on a magnetic track and see how it levitates and move on the track, basically recreating this experiment:

    Constantly recharged electrical motor (Faraday’s principle)
    When an electrical wire that has electrical current flowing moves through a magnetic field, electricity is produced. Due to the fact that electricity can be produced by simply moving an electrical current through a magnetic field, I was dreaming of magnet tracks that produces a magnetic field where there will be the maglev car moving with electrical wires through the field that is connected to its electrical motor. That will allow it to give it constant energy as it recharging its engine when it moves, getting rid of the need for gasoline or energy sources.

    Possible experiment: Attach an ampmeter to wires that will be hovered over the magnetic rails. See if current and electric power produced.

    Then build a small component that would allow it to store in any generated electrical energy/charge.

    Additional features (optional)
    Repulsion collision safe (probably the one that will most likely not work)
    There will be an electromagnetic magnet attached to the back of the car. A sensor will use the magnetic field to detect any incoming cars or any cars it is incoming into. If both of the cars get too close to each other (compared the distance with the speed of the two cars), the electromagnetic would both turn on (with the same charge) and release a really powerful electromagnetic field that would repel the two cars away. Due to the fact that the car is moving with either great acceleration or force, the magnetic field won’t really repel the cars but have them move at constant speed (same speed as each other) into equalibrium. Once under control, the drive can turn off the electromagnetic field.

    Magnetic Car Detection
    There will be a magnetic field from an electromanget that would have the car produce an electromagnetic field (or else just use radar/sonar) to detect incoming cars.

    Any critique on this? Is this possible? Any advice in what I can do to make a small model of the maglev car (not the entire thing, just a small demo of it) or any correction to the concepts that I posted? Some of these may look ridiculous to you as I am only a high school physics student. However, I really want to interact with physics more and use these concepts to create something new and interesting, like this maglev electromagnetic hover car.
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 25, 2014
  2. jcsd
  3. May 23, 2013 #2


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    Staff: Mentor

    Welcome to PF!

    Your youthful enthusiasm is great, but that VW commercial is a joke. CGI. That technology does not exist. Also, your speculations violate the laws of physics. You really should start by learning about some of the principles there, such as how an electric motor works, how a maglev train works, etc. rather than speculating and trying to invent based on not knowing. You said you're in a first year physics class. That's a good start. Be patient. It takes time.

    Thread locked.
  4. May 23, 2013 #3


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    Staff: Mentor

    Welcome to the PF.

    I'll just make one point for now, and try to come back later to read your text in more detail.

    The Volkswagen video you posted is fake. You should get in the habit of checking snopes.com to see if unusual claims have been shown to be false or fake:

    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 25, 2014

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