Asansol: 

This innovation has surprised all and sundry. A model house has been erected with the application of the technology which, the students claim, will resist the damages from mining activities. The house will also guard against earthquakes.

 Quite often, the incidents of houses getting damaged in and around the collieries following collapses make headlines. Such catastrophes in both the underground and open-pit mines leave the entire area and its dwellers in jeopardy.

For the safety of the residents in these landslide-prone zones, a bunch of students from Asansol Engineering College (AEC) in Paschim Bardhaman of West Bengal invented a model house using the application of magnetic repulsion. Houses sitting above the mines gradually develop cracks due to continuous dianamite explosions to extract coal, and the technology is expected to help wriggle out such residents from the precarity.

About 140 mouzas in the Asansol and Raniganj areas are affected by frequent landslides, which have devoured many houses. Many villages in the area have been identified as dangerous, with ever recurring cracks on houses due to mining activities.

Although work is underway on the Central Landslide Rehabilitation project to help the affected residents, the second-year students of the Computer Science and Engineering and Information Technology departments of AEC claim these cracks can be averted. A team called 'Blueprint Wizard' was formed with 10 students for the invention, and the idea of constructing a building with magnetic repulsion technology dawned on Mohammad Arsalan Mushtaq, who led the team.

The team claims this house, which was recently displayed in a model exhibition at AEC that earned accolades from all quarters, will be a necessity in mining or earthquake-prone areas. The team members include Arpita Shaw, Arshad Jamil Arsalan, Shreyasi Banerjee, Shreya Kumari Shaw and Arkum Faizal.

As per science, when the opposite poles of the magnets come in close contact with each other, the fields get attracted. On the other hand, when the same poles of the magnets face or come close, their fields repel each other. In this case, too, magnets with the same field will be brought closer to push each other in opposite directions. If magnets are placed at the bottom of the pillar in such a way that vibration will not rise further. As a result, the house will be safe.

Students say a high-powered magnet needs to be placed in contact with the ground at the bottom of the pillars used on the floor of the house. Similarly, leaving the middle part empty, another magnet of the same pole will maintain the balance. Another pillar will be erected from that magnet. Since the two magnets face each other at the same pole, they will repel. As a result, the house will almost be floating. That is, the vibrations of the ground will not reach the top of the house. When the two magnets are brought close to each other, their fields interact with each other, which is the main reason for attraction or repulsion.

"We have built this special type of house. All the houses that are damaged after explosions in the mining area or houses that have developed cracks due to earthquakes will be saved by this. We have shown through the model that even if there is vibration in the lower floor, it does not reach the upper floor. By installing the detector that lights up due to the vibration, we have proved that even if there is vibration in the lower part, the light does not reach the top of the house. That is, scientifically, the model of this house is true. If their opposite repulsion can be harnessed using magnetic fields, then the vibrations of the ground floor will not reach the top, and the house will be safe," Shreya Kumari Sau and Arpita Shaw, the team members, said.

"This effort by the students is truly unprecedented. It is good that they have thought of this. Besides, they have scientifically proven by inventing a model that it is possible to build such a house. In the future, we will send the patent model and will ask the government to intervene in it. So if we use this science to build houses in the future, many people will be safe and secure," Soumen Sen, a teacher at AEC and the director of the hardware club, 

"We are optimistic about the prototype created by the students. If we get some funding in the future, we will be able to move it from a prototype to a practical test model. That is why if any organisation or any agency or government comes forward, it is possible to make this model a reality," Biplab Bhowmik, a teacher at AEC, said.

"The model is unimaginable. However, in reality, building such a house is not an easy task as there are different rules for the construction of different houses. Apart from mining areas, cracks develop when there is too much weight in the house. The pressure on the house increases due to furniture or many other things, and cracks have also appeared in large multi-storey buildings from there.

Therefore, it cannot be concluded that the house will not develop cracks or that the vibrations from the lower level will not reach the upper if the magnetic field is used in this way. Many more things need to be seen experimentally, like how will the balance of the house be; if the weight on the house increases, how much that field will maintain that balance. However, I encourage the students' effort," Soham Mukherjee, an eminent architect, said.

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