A force field has been invented to protect against blast waves March 24th, 2015

The American company Boeing has patented a technology that until now was considered the province of science fiction novels - a force field system capable of protecting various objects, including buildings, cars or airplanes, from a blast wave. This is reported on the website of the US Patent Office.

Based on the principle of operation, Boeing's invention resembles energy shields, which are familiar to many from the films of the Star Wars film saga. A special sensor detects the source of the explosion, after which an arc electromagnetic field generator comes into play. Using lasers, electricity and microwave radiation, the system ionizes a small area of air and creates a plasma field in the path of the blast wave.

“This technology will reduce the energy of the shock wave by creating a special environment along its path that will reflect, refract, absorb and deflect at least part of it,” says the text of the licensing document.

Such a “shield” will theoretically protect you from the most powerful air vibrations, but not from bullets or fragments of a shell exploding nearby. It will not be possible to constantly maintain a protective “cocoon” around the object. The fact is that during operation of the system the air becomes very hot. Among other things, the force field also reflects light, depriving everyone inside the plasma shelter of visibility.

However, everything is not simple here.

Reference:

« A sensor that generates a signal to detect at least one explosion capable of producing a shock wave that can travel through the fluid to a protected region. The sensor is able to determine the position and time of the explosion", says the device description in the patent.

« As well as an arc generator that works in conjunction with the sensor and is used to determine the wave signal. The generator is capable of reacting to heat in a selected region of the fluid and instantly creating a second, transient fluid, different from the first, which is placed between the shock wave and the protected region».

Here's what Internet users write:

Mofack, RU 03.24.15 14:10
Hmm, are there any problems with performance? It turns out that the power source of such a crap must produce such a powerful instantaneous discharge.

sanches80, RU 03.24.15 15:17
If we take into account that in modern combat few things are affected by a blast wave, then the value of this miracle, to put it mildly, is not high. Is that the main thing for a nuclear explosion is the wave, but something tells me that this pepelats will not hold back the wave of a nuclear explosion very much

Hayama, RU 03.24.15 15:36
The complexity of this product is comparable only to its uselessness...

STRANNIK, ru 03.24.15 17:03
Another galactic victory.
“Using lasers, electricity and microwaves...will reflect, refract, absorb and deflect.”
The whole set in one bottle. Golim nonsense. Like a galactic pepelats.
The main goal is to refresh the image of UWB, which has greatly faded in recent years, as an undisputed leader in military technologies.
And at the same time justify drinking the dough in the eyes of the taxpayer.

Alanv, RU 03.24.15 18:47

Guys. but no one thought about why this pepelats MAY BE NEEDED AT ALL, EVEN if it stops the shock wave? To protect against the explosion of a piece of explosive wrapped in newspaper??? Because the rest of the explosives are usually delivered to the site by something close to a projectile (or have a sea of fragments), which this trick won’t hold up...
Although I don’t understand how plasma can contain a blast wave IN PRINCIPLE... Like highly nonequilibrium heating with a “counter explosion” effect??? And besides, “Using lasers, electricity and microwave radiation, the system ionizes a small area of air and creates a plasma field in the path of the blast wave.” But we need all-round protection...
KMC is a theoretical invention that has no real application.

Instructions

Take two batteries and connect them with electrical tape. Connect the batteries so that their ends are different, that is, the plus is opposite the minus and vice versa. Use paper clips to attach a wire to the end of each battery. Next, place one of the paper clips on top of the batteries. If the paper clip does not reach the center of each paper clip, it may need to be bent to the correct length. Secure the structure with tape. Make sure the ends of the wires are clear and the edge of the paperclip reaches the center of each battery. Connect the batteries from the top, do the same on the other side.

Take copper wire. Leave about 15 centimeters of the wire straight, and then start wrapping it around the glass cup. Make about 10 turns. Leave another 15 centimeters straight. Connect one of the wires from the power supply to one of the free ends of the resulting copper coil. Make sure the wires are well connected to each other. When connected, the circuit produces a magnetic field. Connect the other wire of the power supply to the copper wire.

When current flows through the coil, the coil placed inside will be magnetized. Paper clips will stick together, and parts of a spoon or fork or screwdriver will become magnetized and attract other metal objects while current is applied to the coil.

Please note

The coil may be hot. Make sure there are no flammable substances nearby and be careful not to burn your skin.

Useful advice

The most easily magnetized metal is iron. When checking the field, do not select aluminum or copper.

In order to make an electromagnetic field, you need to make its source radiate. At the same time, it must produce a combination of two fields, electric and magnetic, which can propagate in space, generating each other. An electromagnetic field can propagate in space in the form of an electromagnetic wave.

You will need

- insulated wire;
- nail;
- two conductors;
- Ruhmkorff coil.

Instructions

Take an insulated wire with low resistance, copper is best. Wind it around a steel core; a regular nail 100 mm long (one hundred square meters) will do. Connect the wire to a power source; a regular battery will do. Electricity will arise field, which will generate an electric current in it.

Directed movement of charged (electric current) will in turn give rise to magnetic field, which will be concentrated in a steel core, with a wire wound around it. The core transforms and attracts ferromagnets (nickel, cobalt, etc.). The resulting field can be called electromagnetic, since electric field magnetic.

To obtain a classical electromagnetic field, it is necessary that both electric and magnetic field changed over time, then electrical field will generate magnetic and vice versa. To do this, moving charges need to be accelerated. The easiest way to do this is to make them hesitate. Therefore, to obtain an electromagnetic field, it is enough to take a conductor and plug it into a regular household network. But it will be so small that it will not be possible to measure it with instruments.

To obtain a sufficiently powerful magnetic field, make a Hertz vibrator. To do this, take two straight identical conductors and fasten them so that the gap between them is 7 mm. This will be an open oscillatory circuit, with low electrical capacity. Connect each of the conductors to Ruhmkorff clamps (it allows you to receive high voltage pulses). Connect the circuit to the battery. Discharges will begin in the spark gap between the conductors, and the vibrator itself will become a source of an electromagnetic field.

Video on the topic

The introduction of new technologies and the widespread use of electricity has led to the emergence of artificial electromagnetic fields, which most often have a harmful effect on humans and the environment. These physical fields arise where there are moving charges.

The nature of the electromagnetic field

The electromagnetic field is a special type of matter. It occurs around conductors along which electric charges move. The force field consists of two independent fields - magnetic and electric, which cannot exist in isolation from one another. When an electric field arises and changes, it invariably generates a magnetic field.

One of the first to study the nature of alternating fields in the middle of the 19th century was James Maxwell, who is credited with creating the theory of the electromagnetic field. The scientist showed that electric charges moving with acceleration create an electric field. Changing it generates a field of magnetic forces.

The source of an alternating magnetic field can be a magnet if it is set in motion, as well as an electric charge that oscillates or moves with acceleration. If a charge moves at a constant speed, then a constant current flows through the conductor, which is characterized by a constant magnetic field. Propagating in space, the electromagnetic field transfers energy, which depends on the magnitude of the current in the conductor and the frequency of the emitted waves.

Impact of electromagnetic field on humans

The level of all electromagnetic radiation created by man-made technical systems is many times higher than the natural radiation of the planet. This is a thermal effect that can lead to overheating of body tissues and irreversible consequences. For example, prolonged use of a mobile phone, which is a source of radiation, can lead to an increase in the temperature of the brain and the lens of the eye.

Electromagnetic fields generated when using household appliances can cause the appearance of malignant tumors. This especially applies to children's bodies. A person's prolonged presence near a source of electromagnetic waves reduces the efficiency of the immune system and leads to heart and vascular diseases.

Of course, it is impossible to completely abandon the use of technical means that are a source of electromagnetic fields. But you can use the simplest preventive measures, for example, use your phone only with a headset, and do not leave appliance cords in electrical outlets after using equipment. In everyday life, it is recommended to use extension cords and cables that have protective shielding.

Protective force field

I. If a distinguished but elderly scientist claims that a certain phenomenon is possible, he is probably right. If he claims that a certain phenomenon is impossible, he is very likely mistaken.

II. The only way to define the limits of the possible is to have the courage to penetrate to that side, into the impossible.

III. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Arthur C. Clarke's Three Laws

“Raise your shields!” - this is the first order that Captain Kirk gives to his crew in a sharp voice in the endless series “Star Trek”; The crew, obedient to orders, activates force fields designed to protect the Enterprise starship from enemy fire.

Force fields are so important in the Star Trek story that their state can determine the outcome of a battle. Once the energy of the force field is depleted, the hull of the Enterprise begins to receive blows, the further, the more crushing; eventually defeat becomes inevitable.

So what is a protective force field? In science fiction, it's a deceptively simple thing: a thin, invisible yet impenetrable barrier that can deflect laser beams and missiles with equal ease. At first glance, the force field seems so simple that the creation - and soon - of combat shields based on it seems inevitable. You just expect that not today or tomorrow some enterprising inventor will announce that he has managed to obtain a protective force field. But the truth is much more complex.

Like Edison's light bulb, which revolutionized modern civilization, a force field can profoundly affect every aspect of our lives. The military would use the force field to become invulnerable, using it to create an impenetrable shield from enemy missiles and bullets. In theory, it would be possible to create bridges, stunning highways and roads at the touch of a button. Entire cities would appear in the desert as if by magic; everything in them, right down to the skyscrapers, would be built exclusively from force fields. Domes of force fields over cities would allow their inhabitants to arbitrarily control weather phenomena - storm winds, snowstorms, tornadoes. Under the reliable canopy of the force field, it would be possible to build cities even at the bottom of the oceans. Glass, steel and concrete could be eliminated altogether, replacing all building materials with force fields.

But, oddly enough, the force field turns out to be one of those phenomena that is extremely difficult to reproduce in the laboratory. Some physicists even believe that this cannot be done at all without changing its properties.

The concept of a physical field originates in the work of the great British scientist of the 19th century. Michael Faraday.

Faraday's parents belonged to the working class (his father was a blacksmith). He himself in the early 1800s. was an apprentice to a bookbinder and eked out a rather miserable existence. But young Faraday was fascinated by the recent giant breakthrough in science - the discovery of the mysterious properties of two new forces, electricity and magnetism. He eagerly absorbed all the information available to him on these issues and attended lectures by Professor Humphry Davy of the Royal Institution in London.

Professor Davy once seriously injured his eyes during a chemical experiment gone wrong; a secretary was needed, and he hired Faraday for this position. Gradually, the young man gained the trust of scientists at the Royal Institution and was given the opportunity to conduct his own important experiments, although he often had to endure a dismissive attitude. Over the years, Professor Davy became increasingly jealous of the successes of his talented young assistant, who at first was considered a rising star in experimental circles, and over time eclipsed the glory of Davy himself. Only after Davy's death in 1829 did Faraday gain scientific freedom and make a series of amazing discoveries. Their result was the creation of electric generators that provided energy to entire cities and changed the course of world civilization.

The key to Faraday's greatest discoveries was force, or physical, fields. If you place iron filings over a magnet and shake it, you will find that the filings are arranged in a pattern resembling a spider's web and occupying the entire space around the magnet. “Threads of the web” are Faraday’s lines of force. They clearly show how electric and magnetic fields are distributed in space. For example, if you graphically depict the Earth's magnetic field, you will find that the lines come from somewhere in the North Pole region, and then return and go back into the earth in the South Pole region. Similarly, if you draw the electric field lines of lightning during a thunderstorm, you will find that they converge at the tip of the lightning bolt.

Empty space for Faraday was not empty at all; it was filled with lines of force with which distant objects could be made to move.

(Faraday's impoverished youth prevented him from receiving a formal education, and he had virtually no understanding of mathematics; as a result, his notebooks were filled not with equations and formulas, but with hand-drawn diagrams of field lines. Ironically, it was his lack of mathematical education that led him to develop magnificent diagrams lines of force, which today can be seen in any physics textbook. The physical picture in science is often more important than the mathematical apparatus that is used to describe it.)

Historians have put forward many assumptions about what exactly led Faraday to the discovery of physical fields - one of the most important concepts in the history of all world science. Virtually all modern physics, without exception, is written in the language of Faraday fields. In 1831, Faraday made a key discovery in the field of physical fields that changed our civilization forever. One day, while carrying a magnet - a children's toy - over a wire frame, he noticed that an electric current was arising in the frame, although the magnet was not in contact with it. This meant that the invisible field of a magnet could, at a distance, cause electrons to move, creating a current.

Faraday's force fields, which until that moment were considered useless pictures, the fruit of idle imagination, turned out to be a real material force capable of moving objects and generating energy. Today we can say for sure: the light source you are using to read this page receives its energy from Faraday's discoveries in the field of electromagnetism. A spinning magnet creates a field that pushes electrons in a conductor and causes them to move, creating an electric current that can then be used to power a light bulb. Electricity generators that provide energy to cities around the world are based on this principle. For example, the flow of water falling from a dam causes a giant magnet in a turbine to rotate; the magnet pushes electrons in the wire, forming an electric current; the current, in turn, flows through high-voltage wires into our homes.

In other words, Michael Faraday's force fields are the very forces that drive modern civilization, all its manifestations - from electric locomotives to the latest computing systems, the Internet and pocket computers.

For a century and a half, Faraday's physical fields have inspired physicists for further research. Einstein, for example, was so influenced by them that he formulated his theory of gravity in the language of physical fields. Faraday’s work also made a strong impression on me. Several years ago, I successfully formulated string theory in terms of Faraday's physical fields, thus laying the foundation for field string theory. In physics, to say that someone thinks in force lines is to give that person a serious compliment.
Four Fundamental Interactions

One of the greatest achievements of physics over the past two millennia has been the identification and definition of the four types of interactions that govern the universe. All of them can be described in the language of fields, which we owe to Faraday. Unfortunately, however, none of the four species possesses the full properties of the force fields described in most science fiction works. Let us list these types of interaction.

1. Gravity. A silent force that does not allow our feet to leave the support. It prevents the Earth and stars from falling apart and helps maintain the integrity of the Solar System and Galaxy. Without gravity, the planet's rotation would propel us off Earth and into space at 1,000 miles per hour. The problem is that the properties of gravity are exactly the opposite of the properties of fantastic force fields. Gravity is a force of attraction, not repulsion; it is extremely weak - relatively, of course; it works over enormous, astronomical distances. In other words, it is almost the exact opposite of the flat, thin, impenetrable barrier that can be found in almost any science fiction novel or film. For example, a feather is attracted to the floor by an entire planet - the Earth, but we can easily overcome the Earth's gravity and lift the feather with one finger. The impact of one of our fingers can overcome the gravitational force of an entire planet, which weighs more than six trillion kilograms.

2. Electromagnetism (EM). The power that illuminates our cities. Lasers, radio, television, modern electronics, computers, the Internet, electricity, magnetism - all these are consequences of the manifestation of electromagnetic interaction. Perhaps this is the most useful force that humanity has managed to harness throughout its history. Unlike gravity, it can act as both attraction and repulsion. However, it is not suitable for the role of a force field for several reasons. Firstly, it can be easily neutralized. For example, plastic or any other non-conductive material will easily penetrate a powerful electric or magnetic field. A piece of plastic thrown into a magnetic field will freely fly through it. Secondly, electromagnetism operates over large distances and is not easy to concentrate in a plane. The laws of EM interaction are described by the equations of James Clerk Maxwell, and it appears that force fields are not a solution to these equations.

3 and 4. Strong and weak nuclear interactions. The weak interaction is the force of radioactive decay, the one that heats up the radioactive core of the Earth. This force is behind volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and the drift of continental plates. Strong interaction prevents atomic nuclei from falling apart; it provides energy to the sun and stars and is responsible for illuminating the universe. The problem is that the nuclear force only works over very small distances, mostly within the atomic nucleus. It is so tightly bound to the properties of the core itself that it is extremely difficult to control. Currently, we know of only two ways to influence this interaction: we can break a subatomic particle into pieces in an accelerator or detonate an atomic bomb.

Although force fields in science fiction do not obey the known laws of physics, there are still loopholes that will likely make the creation of a force field possible in the future. First, there is perhaps a fifth type of fundamental interaction that no one has yet been able to see in the laboratory. It may turn out, for example, that this interaction only works at distances of a few inches to a foot - and not at astronomical distances. (However, the first attempts to discover the fifth type of interaction yielded negative results.)

Second, we may be able to make the plasma mimic some of the properties of the force field. Plasma is the "fourth state of matter". The first three states of matter familiar to us are solid, liquid and gaseous; however, the most common form of matter in the universe is plasma: a gas made up of ionized atoms. Atoms in a plasma are not connected to each other and lack electrons, and therefore have an electrical charge. They can be easily controlled using electric and magnetic fields.

The visible matter of the universe exists for the most part in the form of various types of plasma; from it the sun, stars and interstellar gas are formed. In ordinary life, we almost never encounter plasma, because on Earth this phenomenon is rare; however, the plasma can be seen. To do this, just look at lightning, the sun or the screen of a plasma TV.
Plasma windows

As noted above, if you heat a gas to a sufficiently high temperature and thus obtain plasma, then with the help of magnetic and electric fields it will be possible to hold it and give it shape. For example, plasma can be shaped into a sheet or window glass. Moreover, such a “plasma window” can be used as a partition between vacuum and ordinary air. In principle, in this way it would be possible to contain air inside the spacecraft, preventing it from escaping into space; In this case, the plasma forms a convenient transparent shell, the boundary between open space and the ship.

In the Star Trek series, a force field is used, in particular, to isolate the compartment containing and launching a small space shuttle from outer space. And this isn't just a clever ploy to save money on decorations; such a transparent invisible film can be created.

The plasma window was invented in 1995 by physicist Eddie Gershkovich at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Long Island, New York). This device was developed in the process of solving another problem - the problem of welding metals using an electron beam. The welder's acetylene torch melts the metal with a stream of hot gas, and then joins the pieces of metal together. It is known that an electron beam can weld metals faster, cleaner and cheaper than what is achieved with conventional welding methods. The main problem with the electronic welding method is that it must be carried out in a vacuum. This requirement creates great inconvenience, since it means constructing a vacuum chamber - perhaps the size of an entire room.

To solve this problem, Dr. Gershkovich invented the plasma window. This device measures only 3 feet high and 1 foot in diameter; it heats the gas to a temperature of 6500 °C and thereby creates a plasma, which is immediately trapped by the electric and magnetic fields. Plasma particles, like particles of any gas, exert pressure, which prevents air from rushing in and filling the vacuum chamber. (If you use argon in the plasma window, it emits a bluish glow, just like the force field in Star Trek.)

The plasma window will obviously find wide application in the space industry and industry. Even in industry, micromachining and dry etching often require a vacuum, but using it in the production process can be very expensive. But now, with the invention of the plasma window, holding a vacuum at the touch of a button will be easy and inexpensive.

But can a plasma window be used as an impenetrable shield? Will it protect you from a gun shot? One can imagine the appearance of plasma windows in the future, which have much greater energy and temperature, sufficient to evaporate objects falling into it. But to create a more realistic force field with the characteristics known from science fiction works, a multi-layered combination of several technologies will be required. Each layer on its own might not be strong enough to stop a cannonball, but several layers together might be enough.

Let's try to imagine the structure of such a force field. The outer layer, for example a supercharged plasma window, heated to a temperature sufficient to evaporate metals. The second layer may be a curtain of high-energy laser beams. Such a curtain of thousands of intersecting laser beams would create a spatial lattice that would heat objects passing through it and effectively evaporate them. We'll talk more about lasers in the next chapter.

Further, behind the laser curtain, you can imagine a spatial lattice of “carbon nanotubes” - tiny tubes consisting of individual carbon atoms, with walls one atom thick. This way the tubes are many times stronger than steel. Currently, the longest carbon nanotube produced in the world is only about 15 mm long, but we can already envision the day when we will be able to create carbon nanotubes of arbitrary length. Let's assume that it will be possible to weave a spatial network from carbon nanotubes; in this case we get an extremely durable screen capable of reflecting most objects. This screen will be invisible, since each individual nanotube is comparable in thickness to an atom, but the spatial network of carbon nanotubes will surpass any other material in strength.

So, we have reason to believe that the combination of a plasma window, a laser curtain and a carbon nanotube screen could serve as the basis for creating an almost impenetrable invisible wall.

But even such a multi-layered shield would not be able to demonstrate all the properties that science fiction attributes to the force field. So, it will be transparent, which means it will not be able to stop the laser beam. In a battle with laser cannons, our multi-layered shields will be useless.

In order to stop the laser beam, the shield must, in addition to the above, have a strong property of “photochromaticity,” or variable transparency. Currently, materials with these characteristics are used in the manufacture of sunglasses that can darken when exposed to UV radiation. Variable transparency of the material is achieved through the use of molecules that can exist in at least two states. In one state of the molecules, such a material is transparent. But under the influence of UV radiation, the molecules instantly transform into a different state and the material loses its transparency.

Perhaps someday we will be able, using nanotechnology, to obtain a substance as strong as carbon nanotubes and capable of changing its optical properties under the influence of a laser beam. A shield made of such a substance will be able to stop not only particle flows or gun shells, but also a laser strike. Currently, however, there are no variable transparency materials that can stop a laser beam.
Magnetic levitation

In science fiction, force fields serve another function, in addition to reflecting attacks from beam weapons, namely, they serve as a support that allows one to overcome the force of gravity. In the movie Back to the Future, Michael Fox rides a hoverboard; This thing is reminiscent in every way of a familiar skateboard, only it “rides” through the air, above the surface of the earth. Physical laws - such as we know them today - do not allow the implementation of such an anti-gravity device (as we will see in Chapter 10). But we can imagine the creation of other devices in the future - hovering boards and hovering magnetic levitation cars; These machines will allow us to easily lift and hold large objects. In the future, if “room temperature superconductivity” becomes an affordable reality, humans will be able to levitate objects using the power of magnetic fields.

If we bring the north pole of a permanent magnet close to the north pole of another similar magnet, the magnets will repel each other. (If we turn one of the magnets upside down and bring its south pole to the north pole of the other, the two magnets will attract.) The same principle - that like poles of magnets repel - can be used to lift huge weights from the ground. Technically advanced maglev trains are already being built in several countries. Such trains rush not along the tracks, but above them at a minimum distance; They are held suspended by ordinary magnets. Trains seem to float in the air and, thanks to zero friction, can reach record speeds.

The world's first commercial automated maglev transport system was launched in 1984 in the British city of Birmingham. It connected the international airport terminal and the nearby railway station. Magnetic levitation trains also operate in Germany, Japan and Korea, although most are not designed for high speeds. The first high-speed commercial maglev train began operating on the newly launched section of the track in Shanghai; this train moves along the track at speeds of up to 431 km/h. A Japanese maglev train in Yamanashi Prefecture reached a speed of 581 km/h - significantly faster than conventional trains on wheels.

But maglev devices are extremely expensive. One of the ways to increase their efficiency is to use superconductors, which, when cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero, completely lose electrical resistance. The phenomenon of superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes. Its essence was that some substances, when cooled to a temperature below 20 K (20° above absolute zero), lose all electrical resistance. As a rule, as a metal cools, its electrical resistance gradually decreases. (The fact is that the directional movement of electrons in a conductor is interfered with by random vibrations of atoms. As the temperature decreases, the range of random vibrations decreases, and electricity experiences less resistance.) But Kamerlingh Onnes, to his own amazement, discovered that the resistance of some materials at a certain critical temperature drops sharply to zero.

Physicists immediately understood the importance of the result obtained. When transmitting over long distances, power lines lose a significant amount of electricity. But if resistance could be eliminated, electricity could be transmitted to any location for next to nothing. In general, an electric current excited in a closed circuit could circulate in it without loss of energy for millions of years. Moreover, from these extraordinary currents it would not be difficult to create magnets of incredible power. And with such magnets, it would be possible to lift enormous loads without effort.

Despite the wonderful capabilities of superconductors, they are very difficult to use. It is very expensive to keep large magnets in tanks of extremely cold liquids. To keep liquids cold, huge cold factories will be required, which will raise the cost of superconducting magnets to stratospheric heights and make their use unprofitable.

But one day, physicists may be able to create a substance that retains superconducting properties even when heated to room temperature. Superconductivity at room temperature is the “holy grail” of solid state physicists. The production of such substances will, in all likelihood, mark the beginning of the second industrial revolution. Powerful magnetic fields that can float cars and trains will become so cheap that even “gliding cars” may be economically viable. It may very well be that with the invention of superconductors that retain their properties at room temperature, the fantastic flying cars that we see in the films “Back to the Future”, “Minority Report” and “Star Wars” will become a reality.

In principle, it is quite conceivable that a person would be able to wear a special belt made of superconducting magnets, which would allow him to freely levitate above the ground. With such a belt, one could fly through the air, like Superman. In general, superconductivity at room temperature is such a remarkable phenomenon that the invention and use of such superconductors is described in many science fiction novels (such as the Ringworld series of novels created by Larry Niven in 1970).

For decades, physicists have been unsuccessfully searching for substances that would be superconductive at room temperature. It was a tedious, boring process - searching through trial and error, testing one material after another. But in 1986, a new class of substances was discovered, called “high-temperature superconductors”; these substances acquired superconductivity at temperatures of the order of 90° above absolute zero, or 90 K. This discovery became a real sensation in the world of physics. It seemed as if the gates of the sluice had swung open. Month after month, physicists competed with each other, trying to set a new world record for superconductivity. For a while, it even seemed that superconductivity at room temperature was about to emerge from the pages of science fiction novels and become a reality. But after years of rapid development, research into high-temperature superconductors has begun to slow.

Currently, the world record for high-temperature superconductors is held by a substance that is a complex oxide of copper, calcium, barium, thallium and mercury, which becomes superconducting at 138 K (-135 ° C). This relatively high temperature is still very far from room temperature. But this is also an important milestone. Nitrogen becomes liquid at 77 K, and liquid nitrogen costs about the same as regular milk. Therefore, ordinary liquid nitrogen can be used to cool high-temperature superconductors; it is inexpensive. (Of course, superconductors that remain superconductors at room temperature will not require cooling at all.)

Something else is unpleasant. Currently, there is no theory that would explain the properties of high-temperature superconductors. Moreover, the Nobel Prize awaits the enterprising physicist who can explain how they work. (In known high-temperature superconductors, the atoms are organized into distinct layers. Many physicists theorize that it is the layering of the ceramic material that allows electrons to move freely within each layer, thus creating superconductivity. But exactly how and why this happens is still a mystery.)

The lack of knowledge forces physicists to look for new high-temperature superconductors the old fashioned way, by trial and error. This means that the notorious superconductivity at room temperature can be discovered anytime - tomorrow, in a year, or never at all. No one knows when a substance with such properties will be found or whether it will be found at all.

But if room-temperature superconductors are discovered, their discovery will likely spark a huge wave of new inventions and commercial applications. Magnetic fields a million times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field (which is 0.5 Gauss) may become commonplace.

One of the properties inherent in all superconductors is called the Meissner effect. If you place a magnet over a superconductor, the magnet will float in the air, as if supported by some invisible force. [The reason for the Meissner effect is that a magnet has the property of creating its own “mirror image” inside a superconductor, so that the real magnet and its reflection begin to repel each other. Another clear explanation for this effect is that the superconductor is impenetrable to the magnetic field. It seems to push out the magnetic field. Therefore, if you place a magnet over a superconductor, the magnet's field lines will become distorted upon contact with the superconductor. These lines of force will push the magnet upward, causing it to levitate.)

If humanity gets the opportunity to use the Meissner effect, then we can imagine the highway of the future covered with such special ceramics. Then, with the help of magnets placed on our belt or on the bottom of the car, we can magically float above the road and rush to our destination without any friction or loss of energy.

The Meissner effect only works with magnetic materials such as metals, but superconducting magnets can also be used to levitate non-magnetic materials known as paramagnetic or diamagnetic materials. These substances themselves do not have magnetic properties; they acquire them only in the presence and under the influence of an external magnetic field. Paramagnetic materials are attracted by an external magnet, while diamagnetic materials are repelled.

Water, for example, is diamagnetic. Since all living things are made of water, they too can levitate in the presence of a powerful magnetic field. In a field with a magnetic induction of about 15 T (30,000 times more powerful than the Earth's magnetic field), scientists have already managed to make small animals such as frogs levitate. But if superconductivity at room temperature becomes a reality, it will be possible to lift large non-magnetic objects into the air, taking advantage of their diamagnetic properties.

In conclusion, we note that force fields in the form in which they are usually described in science fiction literature are not consistent with the description of the four fundamental interactions in our Universe. But we can assume that a person will be able to imitate many of the properties of these fictitious fields using multilayer shields, including plasma windows, laser curtains, carbon nanotubes and substances with variable transparency. But in reality such a shield can only be developed in a few decades, or even a century. And if superconductivity at room temperature is discovered, humanity will have the opportunity to use powerful magnetic fields; Perhaps with their help it will be possible to lift cars and trains into the air, as we see in science fiction films.

Taking all this into account, I would classify force fields as a Class I Impossibility, which is to say, I would define them as something that is impossible with today's technology, but will be realized in a modified form within the next century or so.

I. If a distinguished but elderly scientist claims that a certain phenomenon is possible, he is probably right. If he claims that a certain phenomenon is impossible, he is very likely mistaken.

II. The only way to define the limits of the possible is to have the courage to penetrate to that side, into the impossible.

III. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Arthur C. Clarke's Three Laws