I also think the bends must be important. Michel
----- Original Message ----- From: "Horace Heffner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2007 6:37 AM Subject: Re: [Vo]:ion currents in pingpong balls > > On Jun 2, 2007, at 4:09 PM, Kyle R. Mcallister wrote: > >> >> William Beaty wrote: >>> But... there would be no ion flows near the rotor if the pingpong >>> balls >>> were truely insulating. A cloud of opposite ions would just >>> gather around >>> the pingpong balls, then all air flows (ion flows) would stop. So >>> I bet >>> the pingpong balls are terrible insulators, and electrons are going >>> through them fast enough to give ion currents and air flows. >> >> Re-reading Miklos' page and his posts to Newelectrogravity supports >> this...he says that the device works better if the feed wire to the >> pingpong balls has a section of "bad" insulation. Look at the first >> image on: >> >> http://www.fw.hu/bmiklos2000/unipolar.htm >> >> I'd bet that is why it works better with "bad" insulation there >> instead of "good". More ion current, more air flow. > > Interesting! Like Bill says, perfectly insulated balls should clog > up with charge, though even just a microamp conduction through the > ball should still allow significant attraction of the radial flow > ions toward the balls. It is also notable that an airflow around the > balls will tend to discharge the balls on average because pulsed DC > is being used. > > One effect of reduced insulation of the rotor wires will be to > increase the radial wind from the stator wires, making them more > effective at producing radial ion wind current, and thus improving > motor performance. However, increased radial air flow *behind the > ball*, where the wire is, produces reduced air pressure on the back > of the ball, and thus reduces the forward thrust. Interesting. > > I don't think that a rotor with just plain straight spokes, no wire > bends, no ping pong balls, ends insulated, will rotate in the same > direction as with the ping pong balls, or at all for that matter, > unless the stator electrodes are on a bias. They should be symmetric > and thus produce no torque in either direction, so the wire bends > must be important. (Hmmmm... maybe would rotate after a push or > initial motion prior to power?) The big surface of the ping pong > balls should be important too, and if so there has to be a net charge > difference sustained between the ball surface and the radial ion > stream. It doesn't appear to me there would be much thrust with just > the bent wire armature, insulated small tip, with no ping pong ball - > though experiment will tell for sure. > > I should also note that the current bends produce a magnetic self- > force, but that force is very small due to small current, and in the > direction the rotor rotates when it is just an ordinary ion wind > pinwheel, i.e. with no ping pong balls. > > Regards, > > Horace Heffner >
