On 16 Jul 2003 13:38:07 -0700, (Dave
Jacobowitz) wrote in Message-Id:
:

This explains how these lifters fly:

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biefeld-Brown_effect

No antigrav here, sorry to say.


The link you posted above regarding ionic wind fails to account for
the effect observed in a vacuum:

http://jlnlabs.imars.com/lifters/liftvacuum/index.htm
vacuum: according to this analysis there is no resultant force
upon the lifter in perfect vacuum resulting from the asymmetrical
electric forces, or it is negligible compared to the value in the
mN range measured in high vacuum of 1.333e-3 Pa by William B.
Stein at Purdue University.

(Mr. Stein has measured at least 0.31 mN with 0.12 m long
lifter at 17 kV. According to T. Townsend Brown’s letter from
February 14, 1973 the thrust in vacuum is linear with the
voltage. Since we have used 2.3 times higher voltage and 5
times longer lifter, we would expect a force of at least
2.3*5*0.31 mN = 3.65 mN. Even the higher value of F2 in the
second column is an order of magnitude smaller than what is
expected, based on measurements and it can not explain the
measured phenomena.)

Mr. Stein has proved in his paper “Electrokinetic Propulsion: The
Ionic Wind Argument” that the ionic wind effect can not explain
the phenomena in high vacuum. Since neither the electric forces of
the asymmetrical E-field can provide a magnitude of force that
could explain the measured thrust in vacuum, this analysis
confirms the theory that at high E-field intensities in vacuum an
unknown electro-gravity force is responsible for the measured
thrust.

In the presence of air: most of the thrust is provided by the
electric forces between the dense space charge around the corona
wire (causing a virtual increase of the wire diameter) and the
cylindrical edge of the plate facing the wire. This causes the ion
drift process described by Evgenij Barsoukov. Although the basic
principles in his theory are correct, the quantitative analysis
was based on unrealistic assumptions and the derived formula is
not valid (it is not in conformity with the measurement results).
Even if we could find a good approximate formula for this thrust
based on ion drift process, it still assumes the validity of
Newton’s 3rd law; that means this force would be ineffective if
the lifter would be fixed within a completely sealed box.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Here's another interesting device that should interest an EE:
http://jnaudin.free.fr/html/sclxmtr.htm

In contrast to the common Hertzian transverse vector waves, scalar
waves travel, or rather materialize at the receiving end, at
superluminal velocities. Scalar waves also quite effectively
penetrate trough objects, such as a Faraday Shield, which would
stop an ordinary electromagnetic (Hertzian type) wave.


At least the EE who showed it to me was convinced that it was a viable
starting point for an underwater communications device. He should
know, that's his business.



Disclaimer:

I have no affiliation with any of this stuff or the web sites.
It all looks like crackpot "science" to me, but I'm no expert.