Hoverboard kickstarter proves once again that the masses don't understand physics - Polidicks

[QUOTE=skzerk;46310152]How do you steer something that has no friction? Also the board is annoyingly loud in the demo video.[/QUOTE] Theres always a small amount of friction. Judging from the videos, it looks like it's hard to actually steer and it also looks like you can just stand on it and be a human pendulum until you stop. That thing is kinda lame

I feel bad for the people who actually backed this

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;46309815] Also, what the fuck is this even supposed to represent? It's uncaptioned and unexplained, it just comes after an extremely technobabbly explanation of why the floor has to be metal, but not magnetic: [IMG]https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/002/763/992/3e4321b33cc2572f9edc63be23316aa3_large.gif?1413677101[/IMG][/QUOTE] Pretty sure that's a screensaver.

[QUOTE=skzerk;46310152]How do you steer something that has no friction? Also the board is annoyingly loud in the demo video.[/QUOTE] You don't. Looking at even their best promo video all you can do is spin around on a loud magnet for a few minutes before the damn thing runs out of charge. It would be fun for like 2 minutes, if that. Anyone who paid for this has far too much money.

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;46309943]Also, right now, you wouldn't want to go anywhere on this thing even if the streets were plated with Hendo-approved metals and battery life was magically infinite: [video=youtube;BuWflDnAO9s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuWflDnAO9s[/video][/QUOTE] alright, i'll bite. this thing is practically a scam, its incredibly loud, and only works on really specific surfaces but that looks pretty damn fun

[QUOTE=Asgard;46309572]Seriously, "Pushes against itself"...[/QUOTE] Lol so they're basically telling people it'll work like this? [img]http://cdn.instructables.com/F23/5RX1/GXL6FHS4/F235RX1GXL6FHS4.LARGE.jpg[/img]

"Lenz’s law explains how eddy currents are created when magnets are moved relative to a conductive material. These eddy currents in turn create an opposing magnetic field in the conductor. Our core technology, which we call Magnetic Field Architecture (MFA™), focuses this field more efficiently. " Are they trying to say that they've got it so a electromagnet induces eddy currents in the metal floor such that it tries to repel the board? Would that just slow it down as it falls towards the floor, rather than levitate it?

[QUOTE=n0cturni;46310408][img]http://cdn.instructables.com/F23/5RX1/GXL6FHS4/F235RX1GXL6FHS4.LARGE.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] This image is so old it's actually yellowed with age. I love it.

But how will we use it on the streets if they are all solar roadways?

[QUOTE=Yahnich;46310467] i also don't know why they didn't add a form of air resistance to keep this thing straight; like the feathers on an arrow; im sure you could come up with a way to let it turn as well by balancing with some clever engineering[/QUOTE] It would have to be going at a quick pace for any air fins to straighten it out. They could probably put some fans on it, but that will shorten its running time and make it even louder than it is already screaming.

[QUOTE=chimitos;46309847]This is 9th grade stuff. Newton is basically the first scientist kids are taught about, isn't he?[/QUOTE] true but you don't remotely come to electromagnetic forces until the last year of high school ( in scotland anyway)

[QUOTE=Instant Mix;46310566]true but you don't remotely come to electromagnetic forces until the last year of high school ( in scotland anyway)[/QUOTE] It's not even about electromagnetic forces, it's about an object pushing against itself to push itself away from a surface

They really need to put thrusters on the sides and back of this thing so you can actually navigate instead of hovering off a bridge.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZx2IeNB1Ac[/media] It took 3KW of power to levitate that small piece of copper, can't imagine how much juice it takes to levitate that whole board plus a rider.

[QUOTE=Zero-Point;46310687][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZx2IeNB1Ac[/media] It took 3KW of power to levitate that small piece of copper, can't imagine how much juice it takes to levitate that whole board plus a rider.[/QUOTE] Thats an incredibly ineffective way of levitating things In theory, you can levitate without requiring any power at all, it just isnt feasible though (Best example would be superconductors)

[QUOTE=Zero-Point;46310687][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZx2IeNB1Ac[/media] It took 3KW of power to levitate that small piece of copper, can't imagine how much juice it takes to levitate that whole board plus a rider.[/QUOTE] Those coils aren't made to levitate something, they are made to heat shit up.

[QUOTE=Cmx;46310742]Those coils aren't made to levitate something, they are made to heat shit up.[/QUOTE] The basic principle is the same. Difference is this coil contains most of its energy internally, whereas the hoverboard would have to project it slightly to induce the eddy currents in the metal floor and such. [QUOTE=Tobba;46310724]Thats an incredibly ineffective way of levitating things In theory, you can levitate without requiring any power at all, it just isnt feasible though (Best example would be superconductors)[/QUOTE] Well last I checked we haven't managed room-temperature super-conducters yet and I don't see them pouring liquid nitrogen on this thing so...

They're basically selling you a battery-powered magnetic noisebox that acts like an air hockey puck and telling you it's the next Segway. They aren't half-assing it like the Areal devs, I'll give them that. They're up-front about 5 minutes of battery life and a two-hour charge [I]for now[/I], but unless we have an immense leap in battery technology, I don't see that turning into "hours of battery life" before the gimmick wears off on the $10,000 screaming hoverbox you can't steer. I'll be glad to eat my words if they prove me wrong.

The only thing this hoverboard and the hoverboard from the BTTF movies have in common is that they dont work on water [sp] unless you got power McFly, you bojo [/sp]

Anyone notice the incredibly ridiculously expensive copper clad half-pipe and floor they have in the video. That's about $9,000k in copper at $320 a sheet just for sliding around on. Why is anyone giving them money? They obviously don't need it.

[QUOTE=chimitos;46309818]Each electron moving through the wire coil produces a small magnetic field. All of the small fields add together into a single field large enough to be useful. That feild interacts with some types of materials and exerts a force on them, equal and opposite to the force on the wire coil.[/QUOTE] I was quoting the dumb ICP song 'Miracles'

man i really need to make my own kickstarter scam

"with enough surface to ride on" It only rides on a specific surface. No real reason this couldn't be real. [quote]Currently, this surface needs to be a non-ferromagnetic conductor. Right now we use commonly available metals in simple sheets, but we are working on new compounds and new configurations to maximize our technology and minimize costs. [/quote]

[QUOTE=meppers;46311317]man i really need to make my own kickstarter scam[/QUOTE] Combine previous one Solar Hoverboards! For backing you get a free potato salad!

[QUOTE=Prollgurke;46310198]Theres always a small amount of friction. Judging from the videos, it looks like it's hard to actually steer and it also looks like you can just stand on it and be a human pendulum until you stop. That thing is kinda lame[/QUOTE] The only friction would be from the air, so his point still stands that it would be near impossible to steer.

[QUOTE=thermobaric;46309652]10 people pledged more than 10.000 dollar to het one of the first hoverboard, already. Holy shit[/QUOTE] To be fair, if you're rich enough to drop ten grand on a overboard, you can probably make a skate park out of copper.

[QUOTE=woolio1;46311426]To be fair, if you're rich enough to drop ten grand on a overboard, you can probably make a skate park out of copper.[/QUOTE] fuck that I'd make it out of gold

[QUOTE=Trekintosh;46309727]As far as I can tell it's just an electromagnetic levitation thingie, basically the same as those floating globes you can get at museum gift shops. They didn't give you a good explanation of how it actually works.[/QUOTE] Pretty much, they say it has to travel above a special board which looks to be a composition of several different plastic and metal layers, and they say it only lasts for like ten minutes [editline]23rd October 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Ajacks;46311131]Anyone notice the incredibly ridiculously expensive copper clad half-pipe and floor they have in the video. That's about $9,000k in copper at $320 a sheet just for sliding around on. Why is anyone giving them money? They obviously don't need it.[/QUOTE] They said the tech wasn't even made for hover boards, they built it as a demonstration, the actual use was to like lift buildings above solid foundations during earthquakes, they just essentially came up with some small tech and put this on kick starter to showcase it and get people thinking

to be fair this technology does look decent for factories and other automated environments that have robots moving freely about on the shop floor. no moving parts = more uptime, and the robots would hover over dirt and small debris that would eventually clog up wheels

[QUOTE=Sableye;46311447]Pretty much, they say it has to travel above a special board which looks to be a composition of several different plastic and metal layers, and they say it only lasts for like ten minutes [editline]23rd October 2014[/editline] They said the tech wasn't even made for hover boards, they built it as a demonstration, the actual use was to like lift buildings above solid foundations during earthquakes, they just essentially came up with some small tech and put this on kick starter to showcase it and get people thinking[/QUOTE] Lift buildings during earthquakes? Sounds like an even bigger disaster about to happen to me.