Has Lexus really done it? Looks like we've got a hoverboard, folks!

I'm guessing about half of you are firing up your keyboards and getting ready to type replies that consist solely of "FAKE!!!!!!" because that's the instinctive reaction whenever a video comes out purporting to show something like this. But remember: This isn't some fly-by-night outfit claiming to have done the impossible in its garage. This is Lexus, which already has a pretty nice reputation and doesn't need to beg for attention via fantastical claims it can't back up. And if you're going to claim a video's been faked, you'd have to have some sort of theory as to how it was faked. Take a look:

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Finally, if you want to call it fake, you need to deal with the technological explanation the inventor offers. Here it is (See Below):

Hush your conspiracy theories – it’s absolutely real, and it can be explained with a quick lesson in quantum mechanics. Are you ready? Here goes. When you cool certain materials to extremely low temperatures, in this case -197°C, they become ‘superconductive’. If you position them near a magnet during the cooling process, they oust the magnetic field and effectively remember their position relative to the magnet. In other words, the superconductor memorises a set gap and – so long as it stays cold – could ‘levitate’ there forever. This is actually a bit different to maglev train tech, which relies on electromagnets for lift and propulsion, but you get the idea. So the hoverboard is a superconductor? Yes. Inside is a ceramic material cooled by liquid nitrogen, which ‘floats’ about 2cm above a magnetic track buried in the ground. The steam you see pouring from the sides is actually water vapour, produced as the superconductor gradually heats up in the sunshine. That explains a) why a man keeps wiping the bamboo deck with a tissue, and b) the shiny tanks of nitrógeno líquido beside our Spanish skate park.

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Now let's get to the really important questions: 1. Could Marty use this hoverboard to get away from Griff and his gang in the town square? 2. Could Doc use this hoverboard to rescue Clara from falling off the train? The answer to No. 1 would not only appear to be yes, but even more so than the one in the film because that one doesn't work on water unless you've got power, and this one obviously does. The outcome would have been different, though, since Marty wouldn't have stopped in the middle of the pond, prompting Griff to attempt to bludgeon him with the Kirk Gibson Jr. bat - only to end up flying into the Town Square Mall window and getting arrested along with the rest of his gang. Eventually Marty would have to have gotten out of there or he would still have been forced to commit the robbery in the place of Marty Jr. As for No. 2, here's the problem I have with that scenario: As the DeLorean speeds toward the cliff and the end of the tracks, Marty holds the hoverboard just above the ground and lets it go. At that point, instead of continuing with the momentum physics would seem to provide, it seems to just hover in place until Doc and the locomotive catch up to it, at which point he manages to snag the little strap perfectly with his foot and catch Clara just before she falls. In the video above, even experienced skateboarders have a hard time staying up on this thing. One almost breaks his wrist in a fall. So you mean to tell me a scientist who has to be at least in his 60s can ride this thing while carrying a woman and moving at the speed of a locomotive going nearly 88 miles per hour? And that's assuming the hoverboard would really hover in place and wait for him to catch up to it in the first place? Know what? I want to believe!

The Lexus Hoverboard: The Story

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