On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 11:57 AM, James Bowery <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 11:31 AM, Ben Brockert <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> But fundamentally, I don't expect it will work to create high voltage >> much at all because the rocket exhaust is going to be much more >> conductive than air. It will easily arc. >> > > You're not taking into account distance. > > A rational way of introducing distance that may be useful in killing this idea -- at least the naive version of the idea: Does the insulating distance between the electrostatic induction elements increase with exhaust velocity in such a way that the specific charge of the mass flow decreases? If so, there is a critical exhaust velocity at which the system either fails due to arcing or must be designed to deliberately throw energy away by leaving kinetic energy in the stream past the "buckets".
