Electrogravitics

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Electrogravitics is a hypothesis proposed by Thomas Townsend Brown and Brown's subsequent extensive experimentation and demonstrations of the effect. The term was in widespread use by 1956.[1] The effects of electrogravity have been searched for extensively in countless experiments since the beginning of the 20th century; to date, other than Brown's experiments and the more recent ones reported by R. L. Talley,[2] Eugene Podkletnov, and Giovanni Modanese, "no conclusive evidence of electrogravitic signatures has been found". Recently, some investigation has begun in electrohydrodynamics (EHD) or sometimes electro-fluid-dynamics, a counterpart to the well-known magnetohydrodynamics, but these do not seem a priori to be related to Brown's "electrogravitics" .

Electrokinetics is the term used by Brown for the electrically generated propulsive force. No widely accepted experimental data yet supports these calculations.

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[edit] Description

The research, based upon Thomas Townsend Brown's hypotheses, includes the idea that electrogravitics could be used as a means of propulsion for aircraft and spacecraft. The field became popular in the mid-1950s, but rapidly declined in popularity within mainstream science thereafter. Electrogravitic processes use an electric field to charge or, more properly, polarize[disambiguation needed ] an object. Electrostatic levitation is used, for instance, in Robert Millikan's oil drop experiment and is used to suspend the gyroscopes in Gravity Probe B during launch. Due to Earnshaw's theorem, no static arrangement of classical electrostatic fields can be used to stably levitate an object. There is a point where the two fields cancel, but it is unstable. However, it is possible to design a feedback control system that uses dynamically changing electric fields to hold an object in position.

The Biefeld–Brown effect was initially investigated by Thomas Townsend Brown (USA) and Dr. Paul Alfred Biefeld (Germany) in the 1920s. Research continued through the 1950s and 1960s by Brown and other researchers. The use of this electrogravitic propulsion effect was further explored during the publicized era of gravity control propulsion research, which included the United States gravity control propulsion initiative. During 1964, Alexander P. de Seversky had in fact published a lot of his own work in U.S. Patent 3,130,945. Unlike Brown, he believed that what he was seeing was a strictly electrostatic effect. To forestall any possible misunderstanding about his devices, he termed these flying machines as ionocrafts.

Byron Preiss considered electrogravitics development to be "much ado about nothing, started by a bunch of engineers who didn't know enough physics". Preiss stated that electrogravitics, like exobiology, is "a science without a single specimen for study".[3]

In May, 1991, the U.S. Air Force Systems Command, Propulsion Directorate, published a Final Report[2] on a project by Veritay Technology, Inc., led by Principal Investigator R. L. Talley, entitled "Twenty First Century Propulsion Concept". The Abstract summarizes as follows: "This Phase II SBIR contract was concerned with exploring the Biefield-Brown effect which allegedly converts electrostatic energy directly into a propulsive force in a vacuum environment." ... "...no detectable propulsive force was electrostatically induced by applying a static potential difference up to 19 kV between the electrodes of test devices under conditions in which electrical breakdowns did not occur. Near the conclusion of this program, force generation effects were examined using a high dielectric constant, ceramic piezoelectric material between electrodes of an asymmetric test device under voltage conditions which caused repetitive electrical breakdowns to occur. Very limited test results of this type suggest that anomalous forces were produced, and these may warrant further consideration in the future." The report concludes by recommending that no further experiments be done with static DC voltages, but that further experiments should be done using pulsed excitation to "piezoelectric and/or select dielectric materials". It should be noted in this context that a 1956 article[4] in InterAvia Magazine reported that high dielectric constants had been found, according to their sources, to be important, and that voltages of not just 15 kV but perhaps as high as 15 Megavolts were thought to be needed to obtain dramatic effects.

More recently, Bernard Haisch, Harold E. Puthoff, and several other physicists[5] have shown intriguing connections between electromagnetics, notably the electromagnetic zero-point field, and inertia, and have speculated about possible further connections with gravity. Physicist Ning Li and engineer Eugene Podkletnov have, respectively, shown theoretically, and reported observing experimentally, anomalous gravitic attenuation effects above a superconducting disk spinning in a strong magnetic field such as is produced in a Meissner effect demonstration apparatus. Giovanni Modanese has conducted further experiments on the phenomena seen by Podkletnov, and has reported some additional much stronger, but transient, anomalous gravitational effects.

In december 2011 whilst attempting to build a "lifter" a device alledged by some to use ionic wind, and by some to use a variation of the biefield brown effect, Steven Clarke in England demonstrated a lifter embodying subtle differences from the standard model, which not only reduces, but will also increase it's apparent weight depending upon the supply polarity. Clarke uses the term Electro/Inertial Transducer to describe his device, which he is currently demonstrating to interested parties on a fee basis to fund further research into the phenomenon.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kerstin Klasson, Developments in the Terminology of Physics and Technology. Page 30.
  2. ^ a b Veritay Technology, Inc., "21st-Century Propulsion Concept", DTIC AD-A237 853, Phillips Lab. PL-TR-91-3009, Contract Nr. F04611-89-C-0023; Approved for Public Release; Distr. Unlimited.
  3. ^ Byron Preiss (1985). The Planets. Bantam Books. p. 27. ISBN 0553051091. 
  4. ^ "Towards Flight Without Stress of Strain", by "Intel" (pseudonym). In InterAvia Magazine, 1956.
  5. ^ See http://www.calphysics.org/sci_articles.html

[edit] Additional reading

[edit] Other research

[edit] Books

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[edit] Patents

Non-American
  • GB300311 - A method of and an apparatus or machine for producing force or motion (accepted 1928-11-15)
American

[edit] Websites

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