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How can any person stay in the air without proper support? Can this feat be achieved by anybody? Does the person who can lift his body through the air have supernatural powers?
The are the questions that intrigue people after seeing these pictures.


Physics explains this very clearly.
This is an example of a levitation trick very well done. This picture below gives sort of an X-ray view into the most common way.


Levitation in the paranormal context is the rising of a human body into the air by mystical means. Some parapsychology and religious believers interpret alleged instances of levitation as the result of supernatural action of psychic power or spiritual energy. The scientific community states there is no evidence that levitation exists outside of the realm of science and alleged levitation events (such as magic trickery, illusion, and hallucination) are explainable.
This can be done with the help of picture and videos below






The "levitating" person is actually sitting on a platform (1) that's attached to a steel (or some other strong metal) post (2), which is granted balance and stability by a large, metal base (3). It's a cool trick, and you'll notice the guy in this picture has really baggy sleeves. Many people performing this trick also will wear gloves to hide the post, and some may not even be touching the post at all. Their real arm could be tucked away inside their sleeve.

In your picture, you can clearly see two fleshy hands, and you can see that there is no post hidden under the top hand, although the view may be limiting our examination. It could also just be that this is an extremely well-designed stunt with two fake arms supporting the platform. Either way, it would just mean that the only physics the charlatans are using is the same physics that allows anyone to sit in a chair.

Now what is Levitation?
Levitation is the process by which an object is held aloft, without mechanical support, in a stable position.
Levitation is accomplished by providing an upward force that counteracts the downward force of gravity, plus a smaller stabilizing force that pushes the object toward a home position whenever it is a small distance away from that home position. The force can be a fundamental force such as magnetic or electrostatic, or it can be a reactive force such as optical, buoyant, aerodynamic, or hydrodynamic.
Levitation (on Earth or any other planet) requires an upward force that cancels out the weight of the object, so that the object does not fall (accelerate downward) or rise (accelerate upward). For positional stability, any small displacement of the levitating object must result in a small change in force in the opposite direction. The small changes in force can be accomplished by gradient field(s) or by active regulation. If the object is disturbed, it might oscillate around its final position, but it motions eventually decrease to zero due to damping effects. (In a turbulent flow, the object might oscillate indefinitely).

Levitation techniques are useful tools in physics research. For example, levitation methods are useful for high-temperature melt property studies because they eliminate the problem of reaction with containers and allow deep undercooling of melts. The containerless conditions may be obtained by opposing gravity with a levitation force, or by allowing an entire experiment to free fall.
Levitation can be achieved by several means...
Magnetic levitation: a high-temperature superconductor levitating above magnet

Magnetic levitation is the most commonly seen and used form of levitation.

Diamagnetic materials are commonly used for demonstration purposes. In this case the returning force appears from the interaction with the screening currents. For example, a superconducting sample, which can be considered either as a perfect diamagnet or an ideally hard superconductor, easily levitates in an ambient external magnetic field. The superconductor is first heated strongly, then cooled with liquid nitrogen to levitate on top of a diamagnet. In very strong magnetic field, by means of diamagnetic levitation even small live animals have been levitated.

It is possible to levitate pyrolytic graphite by placing thin squares of it above four cube magnets with the north poles forming one diagonal and south poles forming the other diagonal.
A magnetically levitated (maglev) train departing Pudong International Airport on the first commercial high-speed maglev line in the world.

Magnetic levitation is in development for use for transportation systems. For example the Maglev includes trains that are levitated by a large number of magnets. Due to the lack of friction on the guide rails, they are faster, quieter, and smoother than wheeled mass transit systems.

Electrodynamic suspension uses AC magnetic fields.

Electrostatic levitation: In electrostatic levitation an electric field is used to counteract gravitational force.

Aerodynamic levitation: In aerodynamic levitation, the levitation is achieved by floating the object on a stream of gas, either produced by the object or acting on the object. For example, a ping pong ball can be levitated with the stream of air from a vacuum cleaner set on 'blow'. With enough thrust, very large objects can be levitated using this method.
Gas film levitation

This technique enables the levitation of an object against gravitational force by floating it on a thin gas film formed by gas flow through a porous membrane. Melts can be kept clean and be supercooled. A common example is air hockey, where the puck is lifted by a thin layer of air.

Hovercraft produce a large region of high-pressure air underneath them.

Acoustic levitation: uses sound waves to provide a levitating force.

Optical levitation: It is a technique in which a material is levitated against the downward force of gravity by an upward force stemming from photon momentum transfer (radiation pressure).
Buoyant levitation: Gases at high pressure can have a density exceeding that of some solids. Thus they can be used to levitate solid objects through buoyancy. Noble gases are preferred for their non-reactivity. Xenon is the densest non-radioactive noble gas, at 5.894g/L. Xenon has been used to levitate polyethylene, at a pressure of 154atm.
Casimir force : Scientists have discovered a way of levitating ultra small objects by manipulating the so-called Casimir force, which normally causes objects to stick together due to forces predicted by quantum field theory. This is, however, only possible for micro-objects.


The levitation secret: Science

Levitation - Human Style ( Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa's art work)

( from http://www.kkartfromscience.com )

Levitation picture:






Now if you come across anybody who says he has magical powers because he can lift his body through the air and sit there without any support, now that you know the truth, you can ignore him.
Be careful. Don't fall pray to these tricks of cheats.
And do you know there is a million dollar paranormal challenge?
Yes, it is an offer by James Randi Educational Foundation to pay out one million U.S. dollars to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. Over a thousand people have applied to take the challenge till now, but none have yet been successful (1).
This shows, there is no paranormal activity people say they possess that science can't explain!
Need we say more?
References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Million_Dollar_Paranormal_Challenge


Read here about the science behind the other tricks Godmen use: http://kkartlab.in/group/some-science/forum/topics/science-behind-g...

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