Super-strong electromagnetics coupled with a hidden fingerprint scanner make this convincing copy of Mjolnir, Thor’s mystical hammer, respond only to its creator. As the Marvel Comics version of the story goes, only those worthy of the power of the hammer may pick it up – it becomes an impossible anchor in the grip of anyone else.

Allan Pan, an electrical engineer, set to work creating his own real-life version. Electrical currents produce a magnetic field that pull the hammer toward any metal surface. Essentially, it can be ‘locked’ in place anywhere with metal on the ground (or just under the surface) mimicking the magical properties the hammer is supposed to posses.

Using powerful electromagnets and a fingerprint scanner, an electrical engineer builds a replica of Thor’s hammer Mjolnir that can only be hefted by the worthy. Pranking passers by, its maker is able to pick the device up with ease, then confuse the heck out of the strongest people who attempt to lift it (a bit like King Arthur with Excalibur, come to think of it). “The handle is attached to a capacitive touch sensor, which in turn is attached to an Arduino Pro Mini and a solid state relay, which serves as a switching device. As soon as someone grasps the handle, the electromagnets switch on, attaching the hammer to the metal surface.” Alas, this version cannot yet call down lightning strikes, nor return to the hand that throws it, but perhaps Mjolnir 2.0 will pick up where this one leaves off.

The post Engineer Crafts ‘Real’ Hammer of Thor Only He Can Lift first appeared on Gajitz.

Inspired by the impossible illustrations of M.C. Escher, particularly the famous Waterfall, inventor and entrepreneur James Dyson created this remarkable fountain that appears to defy the laws of nature.

To the observer, it looks like the water is making its way up each triangular segment, then spilling off into the corners below, and the illusion is hard to shake even once you know how it works.

Essentially, water is being pushed out of the top thanks to pumps below, then flowing back down both off the edges and along the backs of the triangles. Because the eye sees the waterfall at the end, and due to bubbles observed within the tanks, the brain infers the flow of the triangle-top liquid to be in the same direction.

Called the Wrong Garden, Dyson created this masterpiece for the a flower show hosted by the Royal Horticultural Society. Set flush with the ground, one would never guess at a glance that a hidden mechanism is driving the entire trick from below the surface of the landscape.

The post Reverse Physics: Anti-Gravity Fountain Seems to Flow Uphill first appeared on Gajitz.

Dubbed a ‘Postmodern skateboard’ by its creators, these sidewinding circular skates are more portable than a skateboard, easier to slip into and out of than inline skates.

Certain tricks are trickier to be sure, but spinning in circles is easier than it would be for most on rollerblades or other skating devices. Thick rubber tires also make it possible to skate over grass and other non-uniform surfaces. A given pair of skates can also be connected for a rod for a more hybrid skateboarding-style experience.

Hammacher schlemmer is known for its unusual creations, but this one is surprisingly practical – at least if you can get the hand of its use. Each skate can support 200 pounds of weight so you can shift and move accordingly. For $100, though, they may be cheap enough to give a go even if you are not quite sure of your coordination.

The post Skate Sans Board: 720-Degree Sidewinding Circular Skates first appeared on Gajitz.

The above picture may look like an ordinary high-speed photo of candies being poured into a dish, but it’s actually the world’s first smelling hologram. The sculpture, originally created in the late 1970s by Mark Diamond, uses a pulsed ruby laser to create the realistic 3D hologram of the red candies spilling down through space and into a bowl.

When lasers were invented in 1960 no one was quite sure what to do with them. The first working laser was even referred to as “a solution looking for a problem.” But it didn’t take long for science and industry to find plenty of uses for the intense, concentrated, single-wavelength beams of light. Today we use lasers for everything from playing DVDs to performing surgery. The use of the laser can be modified depending on what type of gain medium is used.

This video shows a simple experiment with a ruby laser. The ruby laser uses a synthetic ruby crystal as its gain medium, emitting a visible light of a deep red color. Since the exterior balloon is red, it transmits the red-colored laser beam. The blue balloon inside the red one, however, absorbs the beam and pops.

Ruby lasers were once very commonly used for tattoo removal and hair removal. They have largely fallen out of use for these applications because more effective lasing media have been developed, but they are sometimes still used to create holograms for industrial and scientific applications.

The post Don’t Try at Home: Awesome Ruby Laser Balloon Trick first appeared on Gajitz.