Magicians have mastered the art of levitation, or that is what they want to portray. To demonstrate this illusion, an assistant is laid across an ordinary wooden board, supported by removable chairs or beams. Then, the allusion begins. From this point, it seems as if the assistant is floating on the board in thin air, all the while the magician is waving his hands over his or her body to show that there are no wires hidden to support the board. Wrapped in a material very similar to the magician's own pant leg, a support rod is hidden to hold the board up and keep I steady. By using this method, the audience can only see the "legs" of the magician, having the real leg hidden behind the false support. In other attempts to show magical levitation, clear wires are used to hold up the magician. Though very similar in theory, levitation has been a very mysterious topic for scientists and civilians alike. Engineers and scientists have worked on levitating objects for many years. Though trial and error, magnetic levitation was discovered. Scott Westerfeld used magnetic levitation in his sci-fi novel, Extras, to create a means of transportation and structural support. .
Hovercrafts are vehicles that are able to operate or journey over both water and land. A hovercraft operates by suspending over a cushion of air that is directed downward against the surface below. First invented by Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell, his main idea involved a large device that was designed to float above a cushion of air that included another power source which would move the vehicle horizontally over the surface. This design was first tested using tin cans attached to the nozzle end of a vacuum cleaner. "Positioning one can inside another and forcing the air through the narrow cylinder of space between the two cans created a zone of high pressure created in the region between these cans." This then was able to push the craft forward.
