From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Jul 13 2003 - 12:13:14 MDT
--- Hal Finney <hal@finney.org> wrote:
> Wired is doing a series on super-powers, based on the August issue of
> the magazine.
> http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.08/pwr_antigravity.html
> discusses so-called anti-gravity devices, actually lifters
> powered by ion wind.
> The anti-gravity lifters don't amount to much, IMO; I played with
> ion wind powered pinwheels when I was a boy, and these just aim the
> propulsion downwards. You can't get any significant lifting power
> without using voltages that would be unsafe.
This is inaccurate. First off, voltage itself is not dangerous. It is
amperage that maims and kills. I can, and have, touched the electrodes
of those ion powered air filters. The voltage of these runs around
5,000 volts or more.
I have also built a 1' square model of an 'ionocraft' as designed by
aerospace engineer Alexander de Seversky. It was capable of lifting its
own weight, and with proper configuration, could maneuver around a room
via remote joystick control rather easily. You can build a slightly
larger power supply to provide significantly more power for a larger
craft, enough to carry it's own power supply, but would still be
dependent on reliable current from the grid. I have not done any
numbers on scaling these larger, but one the size of a house could
potentially lift a single passenger and a portable power generator.
Such a vehicles maneuverability ranges somewhere between a hot air
balloon and a dirigible.
=====
Mike Lorrey
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
- Gen. John Stark
Blog: Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com
Flight sims: http://www.x-plane.org/users/greendragon/
Pro-tech freedom discussion:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/exi-freedom
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun Jul 13 2003 - 12:22:20 MDT