Electrostatic levitation

[turnerchris1]

thanks for showing my video comment!

[turnerchris1]

nice vid - I have posted my version up - just get some views! - your site is great

[9493760]

MR . acmdg2007 , THANK YOU FOR THE DEVICE MECHANICS , MOST OTHER VIDEO POSTS JUST SHOW DEVICE . NOW YOUR EXPLANATION IS VIABLE ,BUT I STILL THINK THERE'S MORE TO IT .. SUCH AS ,WHAT IS THE HANGING DISK ON THE END OF THE INSULATED ROD , COMPOSED OF? AND IS THE CURRENT SOMEHOW INTERRUPTED ? WHY SUCH A LARGE GROUND TABLE ? GIANFRANCO FRONZI . AUGUST /6/11

[acmdq2007]

@9493760 The disk is a wood disk covered with aluminum foil. Anything conductive would work. The voltage at the plate is approximately constant, but not regulated. The current depends on the position and movements of the "floating" element. The large base was what I had available. Something of the size of the top plate would work too.

[Hansolo60]

How to use for space propulsion?

[TheDarkone1111]

umm ... was that a guitar-pick jumping around ?

[sacreebluee]

Hey! I did a similar setup, but with some helical shapes that really levitated well. They also spun pretty fast. I'm trying to characterize the effect and would love your input. The shape you use also demonstrates rotation, so it is shape independent. Do you think it is maybe a conservation of momentum that produces the rotation? (i.e. EM field momentum generation due to the E x B field, where the B comes from the current within the foil as known by the ionization effects) See my videos.

[acmdq2007]

@sacreebluee I saw your videos. Very interesting. The levitation happens because as the foil gets closer to the charged plate it loses charge by corona, while receiving more charge through corona too at the bottom. With proper conditions, it stays floating. Some rotation is unavoidable due to irregularities in the corona wind, and your method exploits it to stabilize the foil. Everything is purely electrical. The magnetic forces present are insignificant.

[daleetMeh]

that is hardly levitation

[siamsurf]

If I understand correctly the upward motion is not magnetic but from a reaction between the foil and something in the air? I wonder what would happen if you would take something non-metal an attach it to the upper plate so it hold the foil at a certain distance to the upper plate, exactly where it has the most force to move upwards. Would the upper plate not get "lighter" or pushed upwards by the attached foil? If so, does different voltage have an effect on it?

[dsavetark]

its jumping nice!!!!!!

[KaosSuperStar]

How interesting :-\

[aboctok]

great physics, but calling it "levitation" is a bit of a stretch..

[insaneAnimeLover]

On the other hand if the foil get's too low it will loose it's charge through the tip and then it's attracted strongly to the plate again.

So it then begins to levitate in between.

BTW. the rim at the top of the foil doesn't take in charge as easily as the tip looses it. That's why the foil floats close to the plate. If the tip was at the top and the rim at the bottom it would float close to the ground.

[insaneAnimeLover]

Let's assume the plate is positively charged.

At first the foil is not charged and gets attracted by the plate.

The higher the piece of metal foil floats the more positive charge will flow from the plate into the foil. If the foil is just a little bit charged it will still be attracted, just not as strong as before.

But when the foil gets too close to the plate it will be charged so positively that it gets repelled.

[insaneAnimeLover]

This kind of levitation has been known for more then 250 years. Benjamin Franklin found the explanation for this effect around 1750.

The key to it's understanding is that electric charge concentrates on points and also at the rim of an object therefore the air there gets easily ionised and becomes conductive. There is constantly some charge flowing from the plate into the floating metal piece and then through the tip to the ground.

[ruser0084]

So it would seem that it oscilates due to instability. If so, then why does picobyte get a thumbs down? I think that acmdq did the best job at producing a meta stable levitation( to within physical possibility) so pointing out the oscilating nature should not be viewed as an insult or anything.

[picobyte]

lol mechanical oscilator :)

[Thorgrim15]

so how does that work?

[acmdq2007]

The base is grounded and the upper plate is at 25 kV, from an electrostatic machine. The foil piece is attracted by the plate, but as it gets close it loses some charge trough the ionized air and tends to fall. At some instants a stable equilibrium can be obtained, with the foil hanging at a distance from the plate.

[Blueponts]

alternative power?

[cake70]

Er, no.

[TheRealDj2quick]

lmao

[aboctok]

roflol.. alternative appliance—running on conventional power :)

[tadeocarvalho]

If you make a car like a toy car you will crash obviously,but the priciples are the same.Technology is added to provide stability and control.

[theconqueror]

if u made a ufo with that, what your doing, you would die, cause u would be like a beetle just running into everything hah

[ablublibleblu]

interesting

jijiji

ESPAÑA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PhotonMadness]

Sure wish you had pulled the shot back.

Thanks for the vid.

[dededeclown]

UFO

[scion171777]

dancing metal