Contrary to the beliefs of many, I consider it probable that the force that moves the piston in the Papp cylinder is produced by electromagnetic forces and not by an increase in pressure in the gas within the cylinder.
If this opinion is true, this electromagnetic force not only produces energy when it moves the piston upward, it also produces energy by creating a vacuum in the cylinder as the piston moves upward. If this vacuum production is happening, then how do we add in this energy in the production of the vacuum when we determine total energy output applied to the upward movement of the piston? It seems to me that the easiest thing to do in this situation is to remove vacuum production from the energy measurement. By placing an inflated flexible gas reservoir on the spark side of the spark discharge cylinder volume, no vacuum will be produced. As the piston rises, gas will flow into the cylinder from the reservoir and no vacuum will form. A gas filled balloon connected to the cylinder volume where spark discharge takes place will do this vacuum removal function nicely. Bob Rohner may be underestimating the energy produced in his popper because he does not account for the production of suction from a vacuum generated inside his cylinder. The energy of this vacuum is only recovered on the backstroke of the reciprocation cycle. A weight based kinetic energy assessment on the upward movement of the piston does not account for the production of this vacuum energy. Cheers: axil
