Science & Technology

Will hoverboards be a reality by 2015 ?

By T.K. Randall
June 1, 2013 ·  25 comments

Image Credit: CC 3.0 LoveBoat In the movies the future was portrayed as a world dominated by flying cars, self-lacing shoes and skateboards that hover above the ground. While Nike recently revealed an actual pair of self-lacing shoes a couple of years ago, flying cars remain a science fiction staple, at least for now. But what about hoverboards ?

There have been several attempts to build something reminiscent of Marty McFly's flying skateboard. While true anti-gravity is still out of our reach, alternative methods of keeping a device in the air have been considered. In one episode of Mythbusters for example, Jamie Hyneman attempted to build a similar device using a surfboard and a series of leaf blowers pointed at the ground, with limited success.

Other potential hoverboard ideas include the use of magnetism to keep the board above the ground or, more outrageously, strapping a downward facing machine gun to the device so that the force propels it in to the air.[!gad]In the movies the future was portrayed as a world dominated by flying cars, self-lacing shoes and skateboards that hover above the ground. While Nike recently revealed an actual pair of self-lacing shoes a couple of years ago, flying cars remain a science fiction staple, at least for now. But what about hoverboards ?

There have been several attempts to build something reminiscent of Marty McFly's flying skateboard. While true anti-gravity is still out of our reach, alternative methods of keeping a device in the air have been considered. In one episode of Mythbusters for example, Jamie Hyneman attempted to build a similar device using a surfboard and a series of leaf blowers pointed at the ground, with limited success.

Other potential hoverboard ideas include the use of magnetism to keep the board above the ground or, more outrageously, strapping a downward facing machine gun to the device so that the force propels it in to the air.

Source: ABC.net.au | Comments (25)

Tags: