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(Electrohydrodynamic Thrusters) This site documents experimental lifters or propulsion devices, also known as ionocrafts that do not use conventional methods for thrust. They still obey all Newton's laws of motion but they do not need to carry their thrusting fuel. In general, lifters have an air ioniser in the form of a fine wire, fixed at a small distance (few cm) over the collector, usually in the form of an aluminium plate of foil with smooth round edge at the upper part. The thrusting mechanism is called Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) and is provided by the well known Coulomb's law of electrostatics acting on ion clouds, and by the law of conservation of momentum, by which it transfers momentum of these accelerating clouds to neutral air molecules. As demostrated by the inefficiency of lifters in vacuum, lifters are NOT antigravity or electrogravity devices. Unfortunately the general lack of information on their mechanism has resulted in these devices being claimed (and also sold!) as antigravity science kits. Please note that these devices use very high voltages (>30KV) and experience in handling high voltage is a must. We are not responsible if you get killed trying this on your own. OUR FIRST SUCCESSFUL FLIGHT (click on image below to view a 2.7Mb MPG)  NEW!! Check out our new self-contatined, portable, lifter demonstration unit! WARNING!!! DO NOT USE THIS POWER SUPPLY in your lifter experiments!!! (More to come as experimentation progresses) |