Is Antigravity Possible?

Talking about mechanics involves talking about forces, and one of the forces that (presumably)
has been around since the beginning of the universe is the force of gravity. Gravity is one of
the four fundamental forces, yet it is the dominant force in the universe for shaping the large
scale structure of galaxies, stars, etc. Isaac Newton believed that gravity was the force that made
objects with mass attract each other, the larger the object the stronger the pull. But could there be
a way to defy gravity in such way that a body, say the Earth, could not exert a force on another
body, say us humans? Well thats exactly what Russian engineer, Eugene Podkletnov has
proposed, he claims that objects above a superconducting ceramic disc rotating over powerful
electromagnets lost weight. The reduction in gravity was small, about 2%, but the implications for example, in terms of cutting the energy needed for a plane to fly - were immense.
See the apparatus below for an illustration of how Podkletnov claims to have completed this feat.

Clearly, an invention of this magnitude could have numerous applications to everyday life from
reducing our energy expenditure to making space travel more accessible, not to mention hover
boards.
However if at this point you think that this sound too good to be true, youre right, because
multiple scientists including those from NASA and companies such as Boeing have tried to
replicate Podkletnovs results, but their attempts have been unfruitful. NASA states on their
website What is wrong and premature is to dub this effect a "Gravity Shield." It is better to call
this an "anomalous weight change effect". We won't know for sure what it is until it has actually
been confirmed and more fully analyzed. The original reports on this subject were

unquestionably insufficient. The attention created by the antigravity claims prompted a German
foundation called The GDE-Stiftung to offer a reward of one million euros for a reproducible
anti-gravity experiment, its worth noting that the reward remains unclaimed up to this date.

. However, despite the disapproval of the scientific community, Podkletnov still maintains that
his device and experiments work properly, He claims that his results have been verified by
researchers at two universities, but he won't name these people for fear that they'll be ridiculed
and ruined by the gravity establishment.
In conclusion, the best advice at the moment comes from NASA, further experimentation is
needed to prove the verity of the alleged antigravity device, of course thats assuming such
device could ever exist.

Works Cited
BBC News. BBC, 29 July 2002. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2157975.stm>.
"GDE Stiftung - Solar Energy for Education, Gravitation." GDE Stiftung. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct.
2015. <http://www.goede-stiftung.org/en/>.
"Gravity." Concepts and Applications. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2015. <http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/grav.html#grav>.
Lamb, Robert. HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
<http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/science-questions/antigravity.htm>.
N.p., 01 Mar. 1998. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
<http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/6.03/antigravity_pr.html>.
N.p., n.d. Web. <http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/grav.html#grav>.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigravity>.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Podkletnov#Gravity_shielding>.