Scientists Discover Means of Moving Levitating Objects through Space via Sound Waves

Scientists have known for years how to harness the power of sound in order to levitate small items. Now, for the first time, a group of researchers have developed a system designed to move objects in midair.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could represent a major breakthrough for a myriad of industries, including pharmaceuticals and electronics, said author and mechanical engineer Dimos Poulikakos of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland.

For example, the system could be used to allow scientists to mix solutions in midair, foregoing the possibility of contamination from a container. Studying chemical reactions in a new way is also possible using the device, such as seeing how liquids mix below their freezing points - a feat currently impossible since contact with a surface causes a solid to form.

Micorgravity experiments could be done much more cheaply, as well.

"From now on you don't have to go to space to do this, you can do it in your kitchen," Poulikakos said in reference to experiments currently carried out in orbit, according to New Scientist.

To accomplish this feat, the researchers used intense sound waves of 160 decibels (a train horn comes in around 110 decibels) at a pitch undetectable by the human ear, thus allowing them to work without ear protection. Then, using a device with separate squares, each emitting its own sound, the scientists were able to move the objects from square to square.

Doing so without damaging the objects proved to be a difficult task. In the end, the team found that by slowly decreasing the intensity of the square the object was leaving while slowly increasing the one it entered they were able to successfully maneavuer it.

According to the Washington Post, Daniele Foresti, the lead author of the study and also a mechanical engineer at ETH Zurich, explained it in terms of turning on and off light bulbs: if you carefully lower the brightness of one while raising the brightness of the other, the overall level of light in the room remains the same.

In regards to the study overall, Poulikakos likens it to finally getting the keys to a luxury car that, until now, has remained in park.

"We could walk around it and enjoy it," he told the Post in reference to the ability to levitate items. "Now we can drive it."