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A person wears a suit laced with magnets, in a room where all the walls are powerful electromagnets, including the ceiling and the floor. To move around, the person uses a joystick, or alternatively has accelerometers on his/her legs and arms, to simulate swimming. Once the joystick or accelerometer
is stimulated, a wireless transmitter sends a signal to a computer which flips the polarity of the electromagnets and lowers their strength according to the direction directed by the user. For example, if a person wants to go right, the right electromagnet would strengthen its opposite attraction, and the left wall would flip its polarity and create a strong repelling force. The walls would be cushioned to avoid injury.
This could theoretically create an "anti-gravity" effect, as the person could swim or float through air. Of course this would be ridiculously expensive.
Halfbakery: Weightlessness Simulation Suit
Weightlessness_20Simulation_20Suit
Very similar, but without the joystick. [jutta, Apr 04 2009]
trans-Everything Magnetic Stimulation would ensue...
http://en.wikipedia...agnetic_stimulation
[loonquawl, Apr 05 2009]
[link]
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People suggest this a lot. There are two problems with it. |
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(1) The strength of magnets would have to increase proportional to the square of the distance between the thing it attracts and the magnet. That means that it would have to be very, very strong to affect something from a distance, yet react very quickly to not smash it against the wall. That's hard. |
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(2) Here's what it would feel like, ideally: like hanging from the ceiling on wires in a harness. Even if you could get the magnets to behave as you describe, that's all you'll get. The whole magnet thing doesn't actually buy you anything - all you're doing is replacing the ropes or wires one would normally use with a whole bunch of high-tech. But you're still pulled down by gravity against your attachment points, i.e. you're still getting the wedgie of a lifetime. |
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Working simulations a person who dreams of flying might actually be able to afford: (A) airplane flights on a parabolic trajectory, where you can - however briefly - float around in free-fall; (B) a stunt school wire work class; (C) indoor vertical wind tunnel parachute jumping. |
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I posted an idea almost identical to this, except mine used a swimming pool. I'm not sure if I deleted it, but I'll look. |
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Edit: Nope, I deleted it. It was called Magnetic Swimming Pool, and it didn't do very well. [-] |
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@jutta, thanks for the feedback
1) This is a valid point
2) This is just speculation; how could you possibly know how it would feel like? I do not think it would feel the same as being suspended by ropes. Imagine being held by millions of invisible ropes that would dynamically pull you in different directions according to your request. The invisibility would also play a big factor in the feeling I think. Imagine hang gliding without having a glider; it would probably feel radically different. |
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Not really. The pressure points remain the same. |
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How would they remain the same if it is pressuring on your entire body? (except the head) |
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The pressure wouldn't be on your entire body. Say you're situated directly over a single large magnet, suspended in midair. Unless there was some thick memory foam or gel padding under each magnet, It would feel like you were lying on a contoured board. Even then, each magnet (remember, there are gaps between them) would press in individually, at different angles, creating a pressure point under each magnet. |
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The floating-globe displays use magnets too, but the trick is that the magnets are switched very fast, in accordance to some distance sensor. this would of course also work for the AG-Simulator. But i am with [21_Quest] on the queston of perception : It would feel like hanging in a suspended suit, nothing like AG. You would still know up from down, and even with very many magnets finely distributed, it woud still feel like lying _on_ something.
Additionaly: While it would be possible to create fields strong enough to float a human, switching them quickly is not a could idea while people are in the field [Link]. |
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//the wedgie of a lifetime.// marked-for-something |
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