Michael Foster wrote: > > Hello Fred, > > Unless I'm missing something, the setup you describe is a self-charging > assymetrical capacitor, an electric dipole. The end of the dipole closest > to the earth will be more strongly attracted to it, resulting in an apparent > weight gain. The long separation between the Van de Graaff electrode and > foil at the base would make the effect most pronounced. > Yes. What I really want is a Sphere within a Sphere or Cylinder within a Cylinder (or combinations thereof) using the VDG to transfer electrons from the inner sphere or cylinder (where I can work safely in a field-free region) to the outer sphere or cylinder, to ascertain a force against the Earth's Megacoulomb Charge without building up an attracting image charge:
http://www.nofc.forestry.ca/fire/faq_lightning_e.php#one "The Earth is electrically charged and acts as a spherical capacitor. The Earth has a net negative charge of about a million coulombs, while an equal and positive charge resides in the atmosphere." Buehler experiments: http://www.space-mixing-theory.com/article2.pdf invariably got an upward force on capacitors in air, regardless of sign of single plates or parallel plate capacitors, but, got null results in a Faraday cage, others also got null results in a vacuum, which begs the question, was there a heretofore unmeasured force between the cage or vacuum system and the earth? Spending big bucks on wild theories helps the economy, Michael. :-) Fred
