Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: mist maker / electrostatic motor

On Wed, 17 May 2000, Leigh Palmer wrote:

I think heating of the air drives the whirligig. I've never given
the "conventional" explanation.

Then it would behave as a ramjet? Or would the geometry of the hot region
somehow cause air to be ejected from the tip of the needle? If it was a
ramjet, then you could manually spin it initially backwards, and it would
keep going. Interesting. I wonder what forces are produced by a very
thin wire with shielded tips (like a charged knife-edge, but with no
knife.) If a charged thin wire produces "ramjet" thrust, will an
uncharged, electrically heated wire produce a similar thrust? This sounds
like the drive mechanism for the "Rijke tube" demonstration. Maybe an
electrostatic version of the Rijeke tube would make noise too.


A few decades ago somebody coaxed a needle-grid to levitate itself by
thrust reaction. An "ionocraft"! Unfortunately the (large) power supply
was not part of the flying grid.


((((((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) )))))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb@eskimo.com http://www.amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits science projects, tesla, weird science
Seattle, WA 206-781-3320 freenrg-L taoshum-L vortex-L webhead-L