It’s always risky to write about Kickstarter tech projects. First, there is always the chance that the product may never make it to market. Second, there are so many Kickstarter and Indiegogo products, it’s opening up a hornet’s nest just to cover one–the next thing you know, they’ll all want media coverage.
However, sometimes, for whatever reason, you see something on Kickstarter that makes you go, “Whoa!†That attention-grabber is the Levitating CUP. It looks like something out of a Harry Potter novel.
The name is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a drinking cup that floats. And it looks so cool.
The Levitating CUP is the world’s first zero gravity drinkware. It’s made up of two parts, the cup and base set which uses the physics principles of “Quantum Locking” to keep it floating in mid-air.
“Quantum Locking,†also known as “Quantum Levitation,†is explained by about.physics.com as:
… a process where scientists use the properties of quantum physics to levitate an object (specifically, a superconductor) over a magnetic source (specifically a quantum levitation track designed for this purpose).
The reason this works is something called the Meissner effect and magnetic flux pinning. The Meissner effect dictates that a superconductor in a magnetic field will always expel the magnetic field inside of it, and thus bend the magnetic field around it. The problem is a matter of equilibrium. If you just placed a superconductor on top of a magnet, then the superconductor would just float off the magnet, sort of like trying to balance two south magnetic poles of bar magnets against each other.
The Levitating CUP features a metallic base that enables the cup to float above a surface at zero gravity, completely weightless, and remain that way uninterrupted indefinitely.
The creator has so far raised $27,000 of a $50,000 goal. The campaign will run for 22 more days. Take a look at the video of this floating drinking vessel: