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Acoustic physics

Suspended by sound

Ultrasound waves can levitate heavy balls of tungsten. This contact-free method of keeping items suspended in the air can be applied to the investigation and processing of new materials.

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Figure 1: Acoustic levitation by ultrasound.
Figure 2: Contour lines of the acoustic potential computed by Xie and Wei3.

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Correspondence to E. H. Brandt.

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Brandt, E. Suspended by sound. Nature 413, 474–475 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35097192

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