{ "model": { "rank": 12655, "code": "thing-q740997", "model_id": "vr.tr.levitation", "name": "levitation", "purpose": "Let an agent explain levitation, relay physical methods, principles, applications and limits from physics and engineering sources, describe the named forms, present paranormal or religious claims with attribution, and distinguish levitation from flight, buoyancy, microgravity and stage illusions.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.TME", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q740997/", "tier": 2, "score": 39, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "motionless levitation", "levitation with controllably moving hovering objects", "aerodynamic levitation", "electrostatic levitation", "optical levitation", "acoustic levitation" ], "aliasCount": 6, "merged": 6, "knownIn": 39, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.levitation-act", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q740997", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q740997", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-14T00:09:12Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q740997", "registryId": "vr.tr.levitation", "name": "levitation", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.TME" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q740997/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.levitation", "name": "levitation", "purpose": "Let an agent explain levitation, relay physical methods, principles, applications and limits from physics and engineering sources, describe the named forms, present paranormal or religious claims with attribution, and distinguish levitation from flight, buoyancy, microgravity and stage illusions.", "definition": "The process by which an object is held aloft without mechanical support, against gravity, by a counteracting force, including magnetic levitation used in maglev trains and superconducting levitation through the Meissner effect, aerodynamic levitation on gas jets, electrostatic levitation of charged samples, optical levitation using laser radiation pressure, and acoustic levitation with standing sound waves, used for containerless materials processing and research; the registry aliases distinguish motionless levitation from levitation with controllably moving objects. Claims of human levitation in religious or stage contexts are illusions or matters of belief, attributed. Earnshaw s theorem shows static levitation with only fixed permanent magnets is unstable.", "what_it_is_for": "Suspending objects without contact.", "affordances": [ "explain physical methods", "relay principles and limits", "describe named forms", "present non-scientific claims with attribution" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "No contact", "Force balance", "Stability challenges", "Containerless processing" ], "appearance": "Objects floating above magnets, gas jets, speakers or in laser beams.", "visual_identification": [ "Suspension against gravity without contact", "Motionless levitation, levitation with controllably moving objects, aerodynamic levitation, electrostatic levitation, optical levitation, acoustic levitation", "Flight uses lift and thrust; buoyancy uses displaced fluid; microgravity is free fall; stage illusions use hidden supports" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "Earnshaw s theorem", "typical_range": "1842", "unit": "year", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "Meissner effect discovered", "typical_range": "1933", "unit": "year", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "Shanghai maglev opened", "typical_range": "2004", "unit": "year", "note": "commercial service" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "magnetic and superconducting levitation", "aerodynamic levitation", "electrostatic levitation", "optical levitation", "acoustic levitation" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "physical phenomenon", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "includes", "target": "magnetic levitation", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is constrained by", "target": "Earnshaw s theorem", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "buoyancy", "why": "" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Laser safety standards for optical trapping", "Railway safety regulation for maglev" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Presenting illusions as physics", "Laser and high-voltage hazards", "Overstating maglev deployment" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What levitation is.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is levitation, and how does it differ from flight, buoyancy, microgravity and stage illusions?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about physics, engineering, magic tricks or religious claims?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "forms", "name": "Forms", "description": "Named forms.", "findings": [ { "id": "forms-finding", "name": "Forms", "description": "Forms.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are aerodynamic, electrostatic, optical and acoustic levitation, and motionless versus moving levitation?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific method?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "physics", "name": "Physics", "description": "Principles.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "magnetic", "name": "Magnetic", "description": "Magnetic levitation.", "findings": [ { "id": "magnetic-finding", "name": "Magnetic", "description": "Magnetic.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do diamagnetism and superconductors enable stable levitation despite Earnshaw s theorem?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "acoustic", "name": "Acoustic", "description": "Acoustic levitation.", "findings": [ { "id": "acoustic-finding", "name": "Acoustic", "description": "Acoustic.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do standing sound waves trap small objects?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "applications", "name": "Applications", "description": "Applications.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "maglev", "name": "Maglev", "description": "Maglev trains.", "findings": [ { "id": "maglev-finding", "name": "Maglev", "description": "Maglev.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do maglev trains levitate, and where do they operate, checked against current sources?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits maglev?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "materials", "name": "Materials", "description": "Containerless processing.", "findings": [ { "id": "materials-finding", "name": "Materials", "description": "Materials.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why do scientists levitate samples for materials research?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits electrostatic levitation?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Culture.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "illusion", "name": "Illusion", "description": "Stage illusions.", "findings": [ { "id": "illusion-finding", "name": "Illusion", "description": "Illusion.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do magicians create the appearance of levitation, in general terms?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits levitation (illusion)?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "religion", "name": "Religion", "description": "Religious accounts.", "findings": [ { "id": "religion-finding", "name": "Religion", "description": "Religion.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are levitation accounts of saints and yogis described by believers and sceptics, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral and attributed?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should acoustic levitation be a separate entry?", "How should maglev projects be kept current?", "Should paranormal levitation be a separate entry?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a levitation, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain levitation, relay physical methods, principles, applications and limits from physics and engineering sources, describe the named forms, present paranormal or religious claims with attribution, and distinguish levitation from flight, buoyancy, microgravity and stage illusions.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: motionless levitation, levitation with controllably moving hovering objects, aerodynamic levitation, electrostatic levitation, optical levitation, acoustic levitation.", "6 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 39 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a levitation, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "motionless levitation", "levitation with controllably moving hovering objects", "aerodynamic levitation", "electrostatic levitation", "optical levitation", "acoustic levitation" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 39 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 6 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one levitation from another, and a levitation from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a levitation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a levitation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a levitation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a levitation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a levitation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a levitation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a levitation sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a levitation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a levitation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a levitation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a levitation from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a levitation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a levitation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a levitation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a levitation passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a levitation between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a levitation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a levitation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a levitation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a levitation, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a levitation is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a levitation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a levitation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a levitation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What levitation is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of levitation are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is levitation operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of levitation and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of levitation?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as levitation?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a levitation came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a levitation and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a levitation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a levitation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a levitation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a levitation is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a levitation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a levitation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a levitation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }