A New Type of Levitation

Summary by Krater

Steve Mould investigates how piezoelectric transducers can float without friction on a flat surface, discovering that they float on a microscopic film of gas maintained by ultrasonic vibration. He then builds a miniature air hockey table powered by two transducers driven out of phase.

From the video

Answers: How do piezoelectric transducers float without friction on a glass surface?

• piezoelectric transducers
• ultrasonic levitation
• air hockey table mechanics
• pressure and volume relationship in gases
• fluid dynamics near surfaces
• Chladni figures

What it concludes

• Piezoelectric transducers can float without friction on a flat surface using microscopically thin gas films.
• Smaller gaps between surfaces result in higher downward pressure, causing transducers to act like pumps drawing air into the gap.
• Driving two transducers at opposite ends of a plate out of phase by a quarter of a wave creates travelling waves with no dead spots, enabling miniature air hockey table mechanics.