World News for Students of English

27-10-2014 15:00

A company in California claims to have created the world’s first real hoverboard.

ARX PAX has developed a hoverboard prototype called Hendo, as well as Hendo Hover Engine developer kits, thanks to a kick-starter campaign to raise $250,000.

And they plan on selling their technology to the general public as well. In fact, if you pledge $100 to the campaign, the company are offering a 5 minute ride on a hoverboard from March next year.

For a cool $10,000 pledge, though, you could own your very own hoverboard. But you won’t get it until October 2015.

Hendo can hover about 1 inch off the ground and this is the 18th prototype. So how does it work?

Well, the hoverboard has four disc-shaped hover engines and these create a special magnetic field which pushes against itself, causing the lift which levitates the board off the ground.

But if you’re not ready to hand over the cash just yet, the team has also developed a starter kit for the white box, which is the same technology, but in a white box.

Difficult words: claim (say), kick-starter (website where people donate money to help projects happen), pledge (give), disc (circular), magnetic field (invisible area that pushes or pulls).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com