Magnetically Levitating Mice

[The Straight Story]

Magnetically Levitating Mice
NASA has built a device that keeps mice floating to study the health effects of spaceflight.

NASA engineers have built a device that can suspend mice in the air for hours. The purpose is to understand how zero gravity affects the bone density and muscle mass of astronauts.

The levitation device, built by Yuanming Liu and colleagues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, uses a magnetic field that distorts the movement of electrons in water molecules to let the mice float.

According to New Scientist:

used a purpose-built levitation device containing a coil of wire, or solenoid, cooled to a few degrees above absolute zero so that it became superconducting. Running a current through the solenoid creates a magnetic field of 17 teslas, ten thousand times as strong as a typical fridge magnet and 10 million times that of the Earth.

The researchers have shown previously that the device can levitate water-based items for hours, but were skeptical that it would be able to make a mouse, weighing10-grams, float for long periods of time. Yet, they were able to "fly" the mouse for hours, allowing it to roam freely, and giving it food and water.

The experiment is a significant step to study bone and muscle loss, and even changes in blood flow in zero gravity, which is a common problem for astronauts when they return for space missions or extended stays on the space station. Engineers have built exercise equipment to combat the losses, which can result in long-term health issues, but there has been limited ways to actually study zero-gravity effects on humans on Earth.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/deltav/24111/

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Wow

am amazed...:wow:

How are you doing, SS? :hi:

[The Straight Story]

4. Not too bad, just down with a cold

Or swine flu perhaps :)

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. Sorry to hear that

you know am no longer in CA...moved to Tucson mid-June...but, am in western PA right now staying with the love of my life of 36 years...and things are more than good!

:hi: :loveya: :hug:

[ddeclue]

2. OK cool but I don't see how this could simulate the microgravity environment of space.

you are in a constant free fall when in orbit so that are not really subject to the force of gravity having traded it for a state of constant acceleration.

These mice, though "levitated" are apparently NOT in a state of acceleration due to gravitational forces so therefore there must be a counterveiling force (the levitation device) acting to hold them in place so tha they don't fall - the same as the lift of an aircraft wing in steady flight holds up the passengers inside - these passengers feel the force of gravity because the plane is NOT in a state of acceleration.

If the plane were however to dive in a parabolic arc however the passengers would experience (however briefly) a state of weightlessness or at least a sensation of reduced gravitational force as they are accelerated downwards in a freefall or an approximation on one.

How is this supposed to simulate "weightlessness"?

I don't get this.

[ZombieHorde]

3. I bet you are not half as confused as the mice are. nt

[ddeclue]

5. Says you... me and my barcalounger suddenly just started levitating in my living room for no reason.

oh wait...

damned poultergeists again...

:rofl:

[quaker bill]

9. Because

every molecule of water in the body is being repelled at the same time. The lift is even throughout the body, unlike in a plane where you are being held up by the floor of the aircraft, much like sitting in a chair anywhere else.

[Tesha]

10. Like water, the lifting force is distributed relatively uniformly throughout the mouse's body.

This makes it a pretty realistic replica of true weightlessness.

Tesha

[Hawkowl]

7. Can it be reversed to provide gravity?

That would be useful in interplanetary travel.

[Confusious]

11. Nope

Water has, however so very small, a charge. The magnetic field repels the charge.

It has nothing to do with gravity, and a human being would require a field to large to be practical. And the coils are supercooled, so you would need massive amounts of refrigeration equipment and power.

[callous taoboy]

8. This sounds like a very bad dream.