What wouldn’t we give to be able to move an object at a distance with a mere…thought. This ability may never be achievable…unless one considers moving objects using a mind/computer interface to direct…an acoustic levitator an acceptable compromise. And yet, Lux Baiulae have the power to do so, some better than others, given the complexity of the forces and physical properties at play.
In layman’s terms, acoustic levitation is a method for suspending matter in air against gravity using acoustic high-intensity sound waves (see Wikipedia summary article). The Smart Every Day videoblog has an exciting and easily understandable video explaining the science and technology behind this phenomenon (Acoustic levitation in ultra-slow motion).
The first demonstration of acoustic levitation occurred in 1866 by German physicist August Kundt. Excited by the possibilities of this phenomenon, scientists and engineers have continued developing the theory and the technology such that, today, pharmaceutical companies are considering the technology to help more efficiently isolate drug compounds from solutions (No magic show: Real-world levitation to inspire better pharmaceuticals), while biologists are starting to use it to study fragile structures such as cells (New research tunes theory of sound levitation). And in 2018, a team at the University of Bristol in the UK released news on their work on “acoustic tractor beams”, which they have improved and enabled them to move a 2cm polystyrene sphere, an object greater than the wavelength of the soundwave. This was a great feat as all levitators were previously limited to objects smaller than the wavelength. If progress continues and does not hit any technological or usability walls, we might one day be able to levitate a human.
In the realm of fiction, acoustic levitation takes on a whole new level of possibility. In Conquerors of K’Tara, Alterintrants, such as the Lux Baiulae, possess the ability to move objects using sound waves generated by specialized organs within their bodies, which allow them to create sound vortices or beams. Thus, their power can not only be used to move oneself or another object, but also to repair or shatter bones.
Now, a skeptic reader may think, “Wait a minute, but how could a human generate the needed sound amplitudes and frequencies to move any object, let alone move a body or explode the ground?” And they would be perfectly justified in questioning the plausibility of such a power. But then, the novel is a piece of science fiction and fantasy, and as such, it is permitted to take great leaps of extrapolation from what we know to be possible, here and now, on Earth, as I have done with the generation of electrical currents by bacteria or the storage and release of heat by rocks.
L.A.
