Re: mist maker / electrostatic motor

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Wed, 17 May 2000, Wolfgang Rueckner wrote:

> I assume that molecules in the air are going to lose electrons
> and be positive ions.  If that's the case, they would be either repelled or
> attracted to the whirlygig, depending on its polarity.  So the thing ought
> to spin "forward" or "backward" depending on the polarity, like Feynman's
> inverse sprinkler.  What am I missing this time?  Wolfgang

Depending on polarity, wouldn't the regions of plasma at the tips of the
wires either expel positive ions or negative electons?  I've heard it said
that bare electrons cannot survive long in the air, and will quickly
attach to a neutral air molecule (by inductive attraction, maybe?)  Either
the needles are spewing out relativistic electrons, or they are repelling
the air molecules which captured those electrons.


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