Business: Sport
superconductive surfing   (+3, -19)  [vote for, against]
RIDE THAT WAVE!!!! OF SUPERCONDUCTIVE MAGNETIC ENERGY!!!!!!

THE ULTIMATE SPORT!!!!! TO THE EXTREME!!!!! THIS ISN'T REGULAR SURFING, THIS IS SUPERCONDUCTIVE SURFING!!!!! TO THE EXTREME!!!!! But seriously, how about surfing or levitating on a flat surface that is superconductive. the magnet, why your surfboard of course or hoover board if preferable. one question why isn't this a sport? it would be the 100 times better than any sport now. i want to see a sport that is actually an extreme sport.
-- drunkvader13, Sep 30 2006

Superconductor and magnet http://www.metacafe...o_can_explain_this/
Of interest is the way that the magnet wants to stay where it was last placed. [Ling, Oct 01 2006]

I don't know if this would work. The magnet would cause eddy currents in the superconductor, hence the superconductor would act like a brake (I think, but am not sure).
-- Ling, Sep 30 2006


//i want to see a sport that is actually an extreme sport.//

While //surfing or levitating on a flat surface// does sound EXTREMELY EXCITING, I think I'd still rather watch the paltry old 100mph down the side of a snowy, rocky mountain on a plank of wood - or the yawn fest that is riding hundreds of tonnes of water on some old polystyrene, with the added risk of being dragged under for over a minute at a time.
-- fridge duck, Sep 30 2006


My question is about this //hoover board//...is it a vacuum cleaner that I can surf around the rugs on?
-- xandram, Sep 30 2006


I'm sorry. This isn't very friendly of me, but I feel driven to it. Please, please go back, remove the excessive capitals, and delete a few of those exclamation marks. Please? I'm a pedant, I admit, but it honestly causes me mental pain to read this idea.

It might be fun, agreed. But as for extreme sport, why does deleting the wheels and hovering instead make this incredibly extreme? I'd be keen to try it if it proved feasible, but I wouldn't rate this as an extreme sport, more as futuristic skateboarding.
-- david_scothern, Sep 30 2006


hello,david_smotheru:). the difference between wheeled vehicles and superconductivity is the superconductivity. it would be a lot faster than vehicles, which is EXTREME!!!!!
-- drunkvader13, Sep 30 2006


Hey, I asked nicely... believe me, it was good advice too. If you have a look around, you'll surely find that ideas with croissants tend to be the ones that are well-written. Rightly or wrongly, the bakers here will judge you on the way the idea is presented as well as the idea itself. Genuinely, clean the presentation up a bit and it will be much more likely to do well.
-- david_scothern, Sep 30 2006


Bad idea, bad science, bad writing and bad attitude. Bad to the bone. [-]
-- baconbrain, Sep 30 2006


<returns hi-five, a bit late, somewhat to the surprise of the teacher trying to take the class... ah, breaktime's over again.>
-- david_scothern, Oct 02 2006


Well, it would be nice to see extreme sports that are really extreme, and not just a bunch of drunks trying to kill themselves in novel ways...

Sadly, science has a ways to catch up before this is possible. Maybe you could use a regular conductor, or a semiconductor for a board, and use some sort of particle accelerator type track for the "surfing."

However, I believe that this would make it a lot like a rail gun, and those things tend to get hot, and heat their projectiles quite a bit, so the surfing sessions might be rather short without some mad AC going on.

Looks like this idea's a bust for now, but don't worry. most things are, and you've gotten some sound advice on being a pedant, and not upsetting the other halfbakers.

FYI, ideas that involve science, or english suited to an era later than about 1955 tend to fare poorly around here, as do drinking games, and ideas for weapons...

You should congradulate yourself on a job well botched though. I count 13 votes on this idea, which is more than most ideas get in such short time, so your title must have been catchy, and you're engaging the audience. Took me a month to get two full fish bones.
-- ye_river_xiv, Oct 02 2006


Regardless of all the baseless critisism and finger pointing, when superconductive surfing becomes popular we will remember drunkvader.
-- daseva, Oct 03 2006


//The author does not dictate movement,//

No movement? So this is Extreeeeemme Standing In One Place!! Sounds like some parties I have been to.
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Oct 03 2006


Besides other scientific problems with this, such as the "brake affect", the pure cost (monetary and energy) of keeping a superconductor of that size cold enough would be simply insane. Not to mention the medical bills associated with falling onto such a thing.

However, ElectroMagnetic Drives being pioneered by scientists near London may make this a reality one day, measuring by fun and style, just without the brutal frostbite on your special place when you bite on that rail slide and get a -100C rail bust in your crotch.

Extreme!
-- ironfroggy, Oct 03 2006


[ironfroggy], you probably already know this, and your point is taken, I assure you. But, cost need not be an issue whilest halfbaking.
-- daseva, Oct 03 2006


I can't imagine how thick the wet suit would need to be, for protection against falling into a liquid nitrogen sea.
-- Ling, Oct 04 2006


Bibendum might know.
-- zen_tom, Oct 04 2006


I just popped in to see what all the fish bones were about. That is an EXTREME!!! pile of bones. Any way I've been writing about extreme sports myself, but this sounds inherently dangerous, and cold.
-- LED Prism, Oct 05 2006


There's a couple of ski treadmills I've seen that could do this - attach your superconductors to the tread and wind that sucker up until the eddy currents overheat the conductors. Lift goes away, hooverboard (can't write it without laughing!) comes down, and your face gets sanded off at 250 EXTREME MILES AN HOUR!!

Woot!
-- elhigh, Nov 01 2006


the bad science started with the line SUPERCONDUCTIVE MAGNETIC ENERGY!!! and went downhill from there.

have an EXTREME fishbone.
-- Custardguts, Nov 01 2006


"Cool" - this is good science and truely half-baked. The Meissner-Ochenfeld effect of magnet levitation would be great fun to use for games/sport. Trouble is room-temperature superconductivity isn't around yet - I'm sure it will be as the superconductivity base temperature rises year on year. You're just ahead of your time, t'is all.
-- ham_on_a_roll, Nov 02 2006


being whacked in the head by regular fiberglass surfboard is bad enough,. try getting your head whacked by a huge magnet... even with a helmet.
-- twitch, Nov 05 2006



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