On 2/5/07, Michel Jullian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
It won't rise but some of the ions will go round or even through the paper so you'll get some remaining thrust, it's very hard to insulate high voltages. Anyway no one serious in the field still doubts the ion wind hypothesis, for thousands of reasons, not the least of them being that it has been experimentally shown that you get no thrust in vacuum.
Idiot skeptics are the only ones convinced it's only ion wind. Firstly the ion wind has been shown to be insufficient to explain the thrust. (according to NASA's calculations) Secondly JLN has conducted many experiments which put the ion wind hypothesis in very very serious doubt indeed, situations where there is almost no current, no ion wind and yet seemingly still thrust among others where the ion wind is blocked. Also T.T. Brown's own experiments (not talking about the ones in a vacuum) have also shown this not to be the case. Also 3 or 4 people have successfully made a gravity warp cap which is closely related to T.T. Brown's work. But the most convincing evidence that something very very odd is going on here far beyond ion wind are the anomalies, there are anomalies related to time, and blowing distant electronic devices, but far more interesting is the fact that this almost electrostatic device somehow shields the area from the earth magnetic field! A compass will not find the earths magnetic field near this thing, also very very odd is that the high voltage field being output by the flyback which should be saturating the area can not be detected. The reason it doesn't work in a vacuum is obvious, it's the same reason why it works better with the front electrode being positive (positive charges more readily ionize the air), and why a this wire works best, it's because to work the air around the wire must be ionized not because the thrust is ion wind related, but because the field shape required, that is why in the other embodiment the front (generally still positive) electrode is larger. (ion wind does an extremely poor job of explaining the other devices Brown made) Also JLN under this theory tested the effect with a thin wire enclosed in glass and indeed found that despite almost no current flow the thrust existed because the field shape is able to correctly establish it's self. There is no doubt that the lifter version is partly an ion wind device but it is the only embodiment of Brown's uses this effect for a boost and it is very clear it is only a part of the story. But some people do entertain the doubt on their websites, deliberately or
not. What convinced me personnally is the fact that experimental thrusts are equal to what is expected from ion wind theory (the formula I gave earlier on). So any contribution of other effects is minimal at most. Anyway EHD experiments are great fun and easy to do, so by all means experiment and form your own opinion. Beware though that high voltages (25kV for a typical computer screen power supply) at any sizeable current (more than a few mA) can be lethal, and hurt a lot in the very least (feels a bit like having your arm caught in a meat chopper I was told).
Actually the only thing you feel is a pin point burn and the smell of burning skin, plus a buzzing. If it wasn't for the burn it's not painful though possibly irritating.
