The next meeting in the BRLSI science group series will be on Thursday 26 January 2017 at 7.30 pm, when Professor Bruce Drinkwater of the University of Bristol will speak on “Acoustic levitation: from cells to human beings”.
Sound is all around us but there is more to acoustic waves than our ears can perceive. If you have ever heard an explosion or even listened to loud music you will have felt a physical force due to the sound waves. In this talk I shall show how this acoustic force can be harnessed to levitate and move objects. I shall show a live demonstration of an acoustic tractor beam and describe how this works. I shall also explain how this technology could be important to society, for example, moving tiny objects (e.g. cells, or small medical devices) in medical applications. Finally, I shall conclude by considering the future possibility of levitating larger objects such as human beings.