In the future, airliners could be catapulted into the sky by electric motors

economist.com

2 pointsfrrp3 comments

It's a shame the submitter (apparently) didn't see the pun in "Proof by induction" and use it as his tag instead of the subtitle.

Whoever composed the article's title knows something about electricity, as well as having an irresistible inclination toward word-play.

Interesting, could you explain the pun?

"Induction" in electronics refers to the fact that electric and magnetic fields are intertwined in nature. A moving magnet produces an electric current in an adjacent conductor, and (in a perfect symmetry) an electric current produces a magnetic field. These effects are called "induction":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_induction

A quote: "Electromagnetic induction is the production of an electric current across a conductor moving through a magnetic field."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com