Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Is there real world science that could make Marvel's Banshee fly?

Caleb Landry Jones was the actor who played Banshee
in the Marvel comic movie X-Men: First Class.
As some of you may know, Banshee is a Marvel Universe character that possesses a sonic scream capable of harming enemies, causing physical vibrations, and flying (as shown in the movie X-Men: First Class). I'm ambivalent in my feelings toward this character, however, I was wondering if sound really could make someone fly. It's one of those things that kind of hung in the back of my mind. I know the writers of comic books sometimes go to great efforts to explain superpowers as best as they can using scientific principles to lure the audience into a suspension of disbelief. The same thoughts also go into magic systems, which are all the rage these days in fantasy fiction. So here's the question of the day: is there real world science that could make Marvel's Banshee fly? It turns out that the answer is yes.

Sound by itself may not allow someone to fly around at incredible speed, but it can be used to defy gravity. I guess once you accomplish this perhaps all that's needed is a propulsion system, right? Allow me to introduce you to a phenomenon called acoustic levitation.
Below is a video that demonstrates how sound waves can be used to levitate individual droplets of solutions containing different pharmaceuticals. The machine featured is called (simply enough) an acoustic levitator and was originally developed for NASA to simulate microgravity conditions. It uses two small speakers to generate sound waves at frequencies slightly above the audible range--roughly 22 kilohertz. When the top and bottom speakers are precisely aligned, they create two sets of sound waves that perfectly interfere with each other, setting up a phenomenon known as a standing wave.
At certain points along a standing wave, known as nodes, there is no net transfer of energy. Because the acoustic pressure from the sound waves is sufficient to cancel the effect of gravity, light objects are able to levitate when placed at the nodes. Simple enough concept to grasp, right? I think this video is incredibly cool and you should watch it :) It's not magic, it's science. Have a great Tuesday and don't forget the IWSG tomorrow!

16 comments:

  1. Sustain that for how long? Hmm, I'm not buying it. Banshee flies because he's a supernatural being - fae. Of course, mythological Banshee's were female. But, this is a modern world . .

    .....dhole

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  2. Michael,

    All I can tell you is when my three-year-old pitches a FIT and screams his head off... *I* move several feet away to prevent serious hearing loss...

    Does that count :)

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  3. Interesting! Although I wonder what they could ever use this for, and the video seems to have music. Was this music added to the video or was it from the experiment?

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  4. Seen th elevitaion trick with superconducting magnets, very impressive.
    Passing through on my roadtrip

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  5. I suspect we're a long way from being able to use that to make people fly. They should just get us jetpacks already, dang nab it.

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  6. You'd probably like the book The Science of the X-men. It goes into all the physics and biology of not only how it would be possible, but what would need to happen if it were (ie: quicksilver would have to have thick, gooey tears to protect his eyes when he runs fast. Fun stuff like that)

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  7. Love the demonstration. Of course, music flies me to new levels all the time, so I would have bet on the right side of the line. ;)

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  8. There's a whole group working on the development of a "sonic screwdriver;" one of the big things have been able to do is levitate objects. Bigger objects than you would think, too. Of course, the machine is nowhere near screwdriver sized.

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  9. Wow, I'd never heard of this before. Totally awesome!

    See you for the IWSG. :)

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  10. For some reason, I can't view video today. There's a glitch in our system. Thank you France. Anyway, yes, very cool. It's amazing all the different ways sound can be used, destruction, communication, but levitation--now that is just cool.

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  11. I'm with Pat; I want a jetpack!

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  12. My main fantasy as a child was to fly. If scientists ever do come up with an acoustic levitator for human, I'd volunteer in an instant for the test flights. But I'll wear a helmut just in case.

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