----- Original Message ----- From: "John Berry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2007 5:06 AM Subject: Re: [Vo]: Re: Fred's Van de Graaff Antics
> 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) You can calculate i*d/2E-4 (i current in A, d gap in m) for yourself can't you? Well that's the ion wind's contribution to the thrust in N. Measure more thrust than that in a device, and then you'll have found evidence of something else contributing, until then you're an idiot ion wind skeptic :) ... >> 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. The friend who made that description of the pain plays with high voltages at the kW level, do you? :) Michel
