leijuminen

Leijuminen is a Finnish noun meaning the act or phenomenon of floating or levitation. It is used to describe both everyday floating on a liquid and physical levitation achieved without support beyond forces such as buoyancy, magnetic fields, or acoustic and optical means. The term derives from the verb leijua, meaning to float or levitate, and is widely used in physics, engineering, and everyday language.

In everyday language leijuminen commonly refers to objects that float on water, such as a boat or a leaf drifting on the surface. In scientific contexts it denotes levitation, the suspension of an object in air or in a cavity without mechanical contact. Buoyancy, based on Archimedes’ principle, is the simplest form: a less-dense object or one with an effective density lower than the surrounding medium rises and remains at a level determined by the balance of forces.

More advanced forms of leijuminen include magnetic levitation, where magnetic fields counteract gravity; acoustic levitation, using standing waves to trap small objects; optical levitation, via focused laser beams; and, in superconductors, quantum levitation or flux pinning, where a material is held in space within a magnetic field.

The term also appears in popular science and fiction to describe supernatural or magical floating, though in scientific contexts it denotes real physical phenomena supported by empirical evidence.