Michel Jullian wrote:
Hi Kyle,
Good work and good reporting, as always! Some comments below.
No problem, and I appreciate the kind words.
Ah yes I had forgotten about those stator bound emitters in the
Borbas device! Indeed, to develop what you say in point 8 below,
those become the strongest (the only basically) ion emitters when the
pinwheel's tips are covered, so that counteremission (a well known
effect in lifters with not well smoothed skirts which lowers the net
thrust by inducing a small reverse thrust) now dominates the emission
(now basically zero, as correctly pointed out by Horace). If the
covers were conductive instead of high resistivity plastic the thing
would rotate backwards too, only faster because they would enable a
stronger ionic current and therefore a stronger thrust.
Borbas talks about using a wire with "bad" insulation on it... one
wonders if this translates to, leaks ions much more than a "good"
insulated wire.
Indeed, the stator wires do emit a lot of wind. One thing I did find is
that if the "stator" is mounted on the rotation shaft of the rotor, so
it rotates with it, the thing still works. I am guessing that what
happens is that the wires charge a section of air, and the rotor is then
attracted to this, (and the air towards the rotor), and this starts the
rotation. Upon reaching the balls, the charged air is (at least
somewhat) neutralized, and the balls are attracted towards the volume of
charged air produced by the "stator" wires in their new position. In
short, the thing chases itself, and uses a stator that is not
immediately obvious: the air itself.
I can see where someone might think this is reactionless, because the
way it acts makes it somewhat hard to tell what is reacting. But it is
in fact the air that is doing it. Watching this thing move and thinking
about how it works reminds me of an induction motor, but in this case,
the armature is the Borbas device in its entirety, and the air around
the thing is analogous to the stator coils. Newton is again,
unfortunately, satisfied.
The chasing effect you and GOB describe is to be expected, it's due
to opposite sign image charge induced at the surface of the
approaching object (effect discussed with Fred Sparber many times).
Yes, and it makes putting a dielectric shield around the thing not very
helpful in casting out artifacts. The fields from this thing extend out
quite a distance from it.
Also I understand your reluctance (pun intended) about disclosing the
details of your HV supply. Have you worked out (or experimented ;-)
whether the energy stored in your output capacitor was lethal or not?
It isn't a large capacitor, in this experiment, only about 1000pF. So it
isn't particularly lethal. The problem is the supply itself, 5mA is not
its maximum. 50-100mA could be produced, and at 30kV, that is unfriendly
to life. I have been shocked by supplies similar to this, and it is not
an experience I enjoyed or care to repeat. And given some of the lifter
replications I have seen and heard about on JLN's pages and lists, the
thought of someone using a supply like mine in that manner worries me.
Best words of wisdom I were given when I began experimenting with HV
many years ago: BE DEAD CERTAIN OR YOU MAY BE CERTAINLY DEAD! I strive
to make sure I never become confident of my skills in HV
experimentation...better to feel like I don't know enough, and take
unnecessary precautions, than to feel like I am an expert and in a
moment of overconfidence, make a tiny mistake and never live to tell
about it. In the HV game, there are no experts except the electrons
themselves, and they are not always cooperative.
--Kyle
