Students at the University of Exeter in the UK have broken a funny world record : levitate a soap house of cards for 84 minutes , beating the previous record by over an hour . They created the house of cards using an acoustic levitation equipment , a machine that can make little object swim in midair thanks to ultrasound .
These devices can be used to keep small objects suspended and also to manipulate them , which is how the team employed it . They used the acoustical levitator to hold a water - and - soap droplet a few millimetre across , flattened it , and then turn it into a bubble .
The bubble was restrain leviating for one hour and 24 minute . That ’s over an hour more than theprevious recordof 23 minute and 36 second reach by Ji Xiaoliang and Zang Duyang at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an in 2023 .
The student bubble-makers' elaborate set-up, including an acoustic levitator at the center and camera.Image credit: Dr Chris Brunt
Students Boden Duffy and Joe Nightingale have broken the incredibly specific " longest - lasting house of cards in acoustical levitation " book as part of their final - yr project , which focalise on understanding oscillations in bubble .
“ We found that a lot of people have used the acoustical levitator to study droplets but not the bubble it can create , ” Nightingale sound out in astatement . “ We ’ve based our projection on some of those research papers we ’ve found . We ’re essay to reduplicate some of those experiments with bubbles to see if we can get the same results or find something Modern . ”
The all-important realization that turned this task into a record - break endeavour , was when the pupil duo realise that they were good at make and maintain bubble .
“ Once we ’d formed a bubble , it just sort of happened , ” Duffy enjoin describing the process . “ The heavy part is probably setting it all up , ” add Nightingale .
Just do long - live on bubble might not be a rotatory feeler but it show that acoustical levitators are versatile devices that keep redeem surprise .
“ They ’re utile in many battlefield , used in fabricate microchips as well as scientific enquiry where small insects , cells or droplets can be levitate under a microscope for notice , ” Dr Chris Brunt added .
The bubble ’s 84 - minute life-time was see by a group of people and filmed . The footage has now been sent to the Guinness World Records for official substantiation .
