Maglev: The New Technology

Maglev (Mag- Magnetic and Lev-Levitation) is a high speed train as fast as an aero plane and as economic as a normal train. This amazing engineering marvel hovers and literally fly's normally 1 to 10 cm above its track and moves at a whooping speed of around 500 km/hr with the capacity of reaching 700km/hr. It uses simple technology of magnetic repulsion which helps it hover and not tough the track at any point and propels or moves with the help of electromagnets. As we all know like poles of a magnet repel therefore its kept in air, levitating due to the repulsion b/w magnets and the electromagnets that are used for its track can be controlled as their polarity is controlled. As is a general phenomenon stated by the great scientist Isaac Newton:

A body will continue to be in its state of uniform motion until an external force acts on it.'

This external force is:

1. Frictional force
2. Air resistance

In some cases there is also magnetic friction but that is quite low. Since the maglev levitates and does not come in contact with the track therefore there is no frictional force and we are left with just air resistance which till a certain limit is reduced due to its aero-dynamic shape. This is the primary reason why the maglev is so fast.

Also, owing to its levitation g-fore is reduced. G-force can be explained as speed reducing a train's speed at curves. But since passengers can have problems due to sudden curves therefore the maglev usually reduces its speed to 200km/hr at curves due to passenger convenience.

The maglev was first build as a test track in Germany but the first actual commercial line was opened in China in around 2005 at Shanghai. The maglev has proved a great success in Shanghai and has greatly contributed to the reduction in pollution due to automobile exhausts and drastically reduced congestion of traffic.

The maglev sure is a train of the future and an icon for the city of Shanghai. It has left all who has travelled in it and others who've watched it awestruck by its beauty, speed and elegance.