Will hoverboards ever function like they did for Marty McFly?
What will you be doing at 4:29pm today? According to Back to the Future II, some of us should be riding hoverboards.
Today, October 21, 2015, is the day Marty McFly traveled to in the second installment of Back to the Future, a film which promised technological advances like self-tying shoes, self-drying jackets, and, most importantly, the hoverboard.
Since its release, the movie has sparked wonderment about whether or not the science of a floating board is actually feasible. In recent years, there has been a successful Kickstarter for one such company, Hendo, that has designed a board which levitates over a magnetic track. Even Lexus, known for its luxury cars, has tried its hand at hoverboards. They’ve not only sunk money into a similar board that operates which superconductors, they’ve built a state-of-the-art track in Spain that mimics a skate park. But both technologies require these respective tracks to successfully operate. You can't quite McFly yet.
So just how far away are we from hoverboarding just like Marty did?
Perhaps closer than you think. Spiros Michalakis, a quantum physicist at Cal Tech, has worked as a consultant on movies like AntMan and understands the difficulties of being able to conquer the physics involved in hoverboard technology. His theories lie within and might just give you hope.
We can't say the same for Cubs fans, who may have been expecting a World Series victory in 2015, per another famous prophecy from Back to the Future.
