   Electrokinetic "antigravity"
  Right so, now that we've had an entertaining discussion about electromagnetic warp drives... Have you guys ever heard about "lifters"? Apparently, using an asymetric capacitor charged at 20KV+, it's possible to produce thrust, which is yet unexplained.You can check this page for info:http://jnaudin.free.fr/lifters/main.htmIt does look like some random wacko's webpage from a quick look, but you can actually see a couple of movies of the things in action, as well as links to hundreds of replication pages (the thing is actually easy to build form an old TV transformer). To me it's clear that this is actually happening. What isn't clear is whether or not this thing produces thrust through an electrokinetic effect or something else.   
  Lifters do tend to attract more than their share of wackos. It's not surprising... the weight requirement means that these things really do tend to look otherworldly.The prevailing explanation for lifters is that they are propelled by shooting a jet of ionized particles downwards. Ion drives are well-known and would be extremely useful if not for their immense electrical power requirements. But ion drives aren't antigravity. NASA's pretty sure about it.   ;  youd be inclined to think that people would like to show videos of something so awesome... also, the fact that 99% of all links refer to his own domain, and most others are broken or show great similarity, doesnt really help in the credibility department.   ;Quote:Original post by Eelcoyoud be inclined to think that people would like to show videos of something so awesome... also, the fact that 99% of all links refer to his own domain, and most others are broken or show great similarity, doesnt really help in the credibility department. Oh don't worry, they fly just fine. It's just not antigravity, it's ion drive.   ;  Lifters are pretty cool. I'd build one myself, if it weren't for the fact that I'm scared shitless of high-voltage electronics [wink]But yes, they do seem to attract a disproportionate amount of UFO conspiracy theorists. I don't personally see what the fuss is all about; they're clearly not that revolutionary of a technology, because the load-bearing capabilities are so low, and the universe is hardly running out of unexplained phenomena.   ;  I've built one... but sorry no photo's.Their design is actually quite simple and you don't need much equipment (just a monitor or a neon sign).Not much else to say really :)   ;  I've built one too, using custom HV supply, few years ago. Though, i wasn't interested in flying this thing, I was interested in measuring force (btw, the force sideways is equal to upward or downward force, so it certanly doesn't have anything to do with antigravity). It was rather tiny thing with force of about few grams (depending to temperature of transistor in power supply... lol), and also this thing worked as rather nice fan. By the way, it works better with high repetition pulsed power (probably because this way i can pull more power without arking or sparking). As about efficiency, i would be interested how it perform at big speeds relatively to air. (when it is at rest, it has mechanical efficiency zero, when it is moving forward with velocity v, mechanical power produced will be equal to force*speed, so at some speed it will have maximal efficiency.)I think it should be possible to make toy car propelled this way, carrying battery and HV supply on board.As about various BS theories about this thing, if them would be true it would be possible to build such "assymetric capacitor", fill it with paraffin and seal completely, and voila, you get thing that has different weight when weighted upside-up and upside-down. Of course nobody ever made thing that works this way.[Edited by - Dmytry on January 10, 2006 1:17:01 PM];  On that site they claim it's not actually an ion wind effect. They have a page somewhere where they put one of those things inside a ziploc plastic bag on a balance and measure a weight reduction.And yes, I know it's not antigravity, that's why I put it in quotations.   ;Quote:Original post by Max_PayneOn that site they claim it's not actually an ion wind effect. They have a page somewhere where they put one of those things inside a ziploc plastic bag on a balance and measure a weight reduction.Unfortunately, all the experiments which seem to disprove the ion wind explanation are of the "ziploc bag" variety rather than the "ANSI-certified vacuum chamber" variety. It's an easy experiment to replicate under tightly controlled conditions, given the appropriate resources, and there's potentially a huge amount of money in it. The fact that reputable laboratories haven't been able to reproduce anything but an ion wind (and not for lack of trying) speaks volumes.   ;Quote:Original post by Max_PayneOn that site they claim it's not actually an ion wind effect. They have a page somewhere where they put one of those things inside a ziploc plastic bag on a balance and measure a weight reduction.high speed propelled ions have a tendency of blasting through things, so the bag as a whole can still be propelled. that said, i wouldnt exactly be comfortable having one of these things fly above me. its only alpha radiation, but appearently a whole damned lot of it.   