TTBrown

Biefeld–Brown effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A pretty thorough explanation of the Biefeld–Brown effect just showed up in Wikipedia:

The Biefeld–Brown effect is an effect that was discovered by Thomas Townsend Brown (USA) and Dr. Paul Alfred Biefeld (CH). The effect is more widely referred to as electrohydrodynamics (EHD) or sometimes electro-fluid-dynamics, a counterpart to the well-known magneto-hydrodynamics. Extensive research was performed during the 1950s and 1960's on the use of this electric propulsion effect during the publicized era of the United States gravity control propulsion research (1955 - 1974). During 1964, Major De Seversky had in fact published much of his related work in U.S. Patent 3,130,945 , and with the aim to forestall any possible misunderstanding about these devices, had termed these flying machines as ionocrafts. In the following years, many promising concepts had to be abandoned due to technological limitations and were forgotten. The effect has only recently become of interest again and such flying devices are now known as EHD thrusters. Simple single-stage versions lifted by this effect are sometimes also called lifters.

Another Crazy Idea?

Personally, I love it when critics say some novel Idea won't work. I say, just build the thing, and we'll see:

Chinese researchers claim they've confirmed the theory behind an "impossible" space drive, and are proceeding to build a demonstration version. If they're right, this might transform the economics of satellites, open up new possibilities for space exploration –- and give the Chinese a decisive military advantage in space.

To say that the "Emdrive" (short for "electromagnetic drive") concept is controversial would be an understatement. According to Roger Shawyer, the British scientist who developed the concept, the drive converts electrical energy into thrust via microwaves, without violating any laws of physics. Many researchers believe otherwise. An article about the Emdrive in New Scientist magazine drew a massive volley of criticism. Scientists not only argued that Shawyer's work was blatantly impossible, and that his reasoning was flawed. They also said the article should never have been published.

"Circumstantial Physics" ??

Now there's a concept.  And there are actually people who are promoting "circumstantial physics" as a viable form of investigation.  For example, follow these links, or click here:

...to listen to some excerpts from a Coast to Coast AM program last month with Richard C. Hoagland, joined later in the broadcast by Joseph P. Farrell.  The program is described on the C2C website like this:

Hoagland presented his thesis that during that during the launch of the Explorer I rocket in 1958, von Braun discovered an anti-gravity effect was taking place. The effect, related to the craft's orbit, defied Newtonian physics and was kept secret, said Hoagland. He explained that he pieced it together using "circumstantial physics."

Farrell outlined Nazi connections associated with the anti-gravity discovery. A "post-war Nazi International" group may have employed alternative physics for a secret space program running parallel to NASA, he stated. Von Braun was obsessed with Mars, and Hoagland suggested the Nazis believed their ancestors came from Mars, and their goal was to return there. For more, see the Enterprise Mission report Von Braun?s 50-Year-Old Secret Part 1, Part

One wonders how anybody can piece together anything credible using "circumstantial physics" as a foundation.  But then we also know that if you throw enough weasel words (could have, maybe, may have, possibly, etc.) together, you can get people to believe just about anything. 

And apparently there is no shortage of media luminaries who will lend credence to such theories in order to fill the hours and hours of air-time at their disposal. 

Maybe this is why it's so hard to tell pseudo-science from the real thing.

 

Tesla's Spirit Lives On

One of the lasting legacies of Nikola Tesla is his quest to deliver electrical power wirelessly.  Now Intel says they've achieved just that, although without giant tower on Long Island...

Intel on Thursday showed off a wireless electric power system that analysts say could revolutionize modern life by freeing devices from transformers and wall outlets.

Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner demonstrated a Wireless Energy Resonant Link as he spoke at the California firm's annual developers forum in San Francisco.

Electricity was sent wirelessly to a lamp on stage, lighting a 60 watt bulb that uses more power than a typical laptop computer.

Now Why Does...

...THIS look familiar?

Plasma-powered flying saucer

Pass a current or magnetic field through a conducting fluid and it will generate a force. Numerous aerospace engineers have tried and failed to exploit this phenomenon, known as magnetohydrodynamics, as an exotic form of propulsion for aircraft. But perhaps attempts so far have all been too big.

A very small design could have a better chance of taking off, says Subrata Roy, an aerospace engineer at the University of Florida, Gainesville, US.

 

With a span of less than 15 centimetres, his aircraft qualifies as a micro air vehicle (MAV), but it has an unconventional design to say the least. It is a saucer shape covered with electrodes that ionise air to create a plasma. This plasma is then accelerated by an electric field to push air around and generate lift.

What Would YOU Do...

...if you could go "zero G" for a few seconds?  Play a game of "human catch," of course...

Looks like just another day on the Vomit Comet...

"Ionic Breeze" in Deep Space?

From time to time, there has been some speculation in these parts that one of the secrets wrapped up in the Townsend Brown story is the origins of an "ion drive" of the kind now being used in certain inter-planetary/stellar space probes.   Here's an item from Aviation Week about one such project that is preparing for launch later this week:

Aviation Week : Dawn Spacecraft Ready To Turn SciFi Into Reality.

Powered by glowing blue beams from its own revolutionary solar electric ion propulsion system (IPS), Dawn is to fly to, then orbit, these two separate bodies hundreds of millions of miles apart. Only science fiction spacecraft have done such things before; Star Trek’s Enterprise did it using antimatter propulsion.

With 935 lb. of xenon fuel, the 2,696-lb. Dawn spacecraft has far more propulsion capability than any previous real spacecraft.

Dawn’s solar electric propulsion system has the ability to accelerate the spacecraft by nearly 7 mi. per sec. over the course of its mission. This is as much velocity change in deep space as it will receive from its entire Delta launch vehicle to reach space, then depart Earth orbit. “That is huge for a planetary mission, it is really incredible velocity capability,” says Mike Mook, the Dawn Orbital Sciences project manager.

Follow this link for details on the ion drive itself, and a  graphic comparison to other kinds of propulsion.

Thanks for Richard Haider, aka "only1egg" for posting this to the Yahoo Lifters group.

TiVo - VCR Alert: Beyond Invention

There is a possibility that this program on The Science Channel on Friday at 10 PM/9Central will include some Townsend Brown - related stuff.  Consult your local listings:

Link: The Science Channel :: TV Listings :: Beyond Invention.

Beyond Invention New Energy TV-G Energy drives the planet, but it also drives three inventors. Meet John Hutchison, who makes objects float in the air, and Joe Newman, who battled the US government to bring his machine's cheap energy to the whole world.

Back to the Future for Just 20K

The Seattle scientist who wants to test a controversial prediction from quantum theory that says light particles can go backward in time is, himself, running out of time.   

"I guess you could say we're now living on borrowed time," wryly joked John Cramer, a physicist at the University of Washington. "All we need to keep going is maybe $20,000, but nobody seems that interested in funding this project."

 

It's a project that aims to do a conceptually simple bench-top test for evidence of something Albert Einstein called "spooky action at a distance." The test involves using a crystal to split a photon, a light particle, into two reduced-energy photons that -- through careful manipulation -- Cramer thinks could reveal a flash of time traveling backward.

Link: Physicist needs $20,000 for time-travel experiment.

Ball Lightning in a Lab?

New Scientist magazine reports that scientists in Brazil have found a way to produce "ball lightning" (or something like it) in a laboratory experiment. "Ball lightning could soon lose its status as a mystery, now that a team in Brazil has cooked up a simple recipe for making similar eerie orbs of light in the lab," writes Hazel Muir  in this article at the New Scientist website.

Ball lightning is a subject that fascinated Townsend Brown, as it has fascinated others over the years.  But some of the contributors over at fusor.net have their doubts about these experiments in Brazil.