Maglev Marvels: The Science Behind Magnetic Levitation Transportation
Last Thursday, I was stuck in traffic for forty-five minutes trying to get to aerial silks practice. Forty-five minutes to go twelve miles. I sat there daydreaming about teleportation, flying cars, anything faster than this. Then a video popped up on my feed: a train in Shanghai gliding at 268 mph with no wheels touching the track, just floating like something from a sci-fi movie. My first thought? "Wait, trains can FLY now?!" Turns out, with the right magnets, yeah, kind of. Magnets: Not Just for Your Fridge Anymore Remember the basic magnet rule from middle school? Opposite poles attract, same poles repel. That invisible force you felt pushing two magnets apart? That's the foundation of how maglev (magnetic levitation) trains work. Engineers figured out how to use that repelling force to lift entire trains and make them hover above the track. No physical contact. No friction. Just magnetic forces holding everything up. There are two main systems. Electromagnetic suspens...
