Scientists Create Water Tractor Beam that May Contain Oil Spills

Scientists may have developed a new way to confine oil spills. They've created a tractor beam on water, which could mean a new way to manipulate currents in a way to help contain environmental pollution.

"We have figured out a way of creating waves that can force a floating object to move against the direction of the wave," said Horst Punzmann, one of the researchers, in a news release. "No one could have guessed this result."

The experiment itself started with a ping-pong ball in a wave tank. The scientists calculated the size and frequency of the waves that were needed in order to move the ball in any direction that they wanted. Using advanced particle tracking tools, the scientists then found that waves general currents on the surface of the water. Using this principle, they were able to create flow patterns to move the ball in any direction they wanted, effectively creating a tractor beam.

"We found that above a certain height, these complex three-dimensional waves generate flow patterns on the surface of the water," said Michael Shats, the lead researcher in the new study, in a news release. "The tractor beam is just one of the patterns, they can be inward flows, outward flows or vortices."

As of yet, no mathematical theory can explain these experiments. Yet it does reveal a potential way to control a floating object. This could be huge in terms of corralling oil spills and other floating trash in the ocean; in fact, it could mean a better way to effective clean up a certain area without the use of chemical dispersants. That said, it will be quite some time before researchers can apply these new findings to the open ocean.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Physics.