In a message dated 96-08-08 21:16:33 EDT, you write:
<< I talked with Dave Swenson, the 3M engineer involved. The geometry was
different than I originally heard. A roll of PET plastic film 20ft. long
was being unspooled. The sheet of film traveled 20ft upward, passed over
rollers, traveled 20ft horizontal, then down into "slitting" machines
where it was put onto smaller spools. The film traveled at 1000f/min
(10mph). The film had previously been processed so that its two faces were
dissimilar, so when it was peeled from the main roll, charge separation
occurred. And so the charged film formed a sort of huge tent-like
structure which one could walk under.
The e-field around the equipment was so strong that workers could not
approach it for fear of triggering huge discharges. When the humidity was
low, an unusual effect took place: if you attempted to pass under the
"tent" you were stopped by something like "an invisible wall."
Additionally, the forces prevented you from turning your body, and you had
to walk backwards to move away.
This from a large sheet of highly-charged plastic!
Question: could the e-fields from such a setup be strong enough to prevent
a person from walking forward? I would think that they would be too weak,
and they would cause attraction rather than repulsion. Could the e-fields
affect the nervous system? Perhaps the strong fields attract something
else which then provides the "wall" effect. Aerosol/polymers? Dark
matter? :)
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William Beaty voice:206-781-3320 bbs:206-789-0775 cserv:71241,3623
EE/Programmer/Science exhibit designer http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/
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>>
Bill,
A question. Can the rollers remove charge from one side of the film and
leave the other side still charged? If so, then there is a partial loop (20
ft up, over, and down) of DC current flowing. This would be an electromagnet
wouldn't it? How would this affect a human trying to walk into the magnetic
field?