On 10/19/2011 9:29 AM, Darren New wrote:
> Those
> lines in the video that get pinched going thru the superconductor are
> actually infinite in number

I know jack-all about superconductors, so take this with a positively 
enormous grain of salt, but I think this isn't accurate.  The particular 
sort of levitation that you see in the video is an example of flux 
pinning, and is only possible with a particular type of superconductor 
(a type II superconductor) with defects in its crystal structure.  These 
material defects are what traps the "lines" of magnetic flux relative to 
the superconductor.  Since there would only be a finite number of such 
defects, there would be a finite number of "lines" where the field is 
trapped as illustrated in the video.

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