On Monday 20 September 2004 08:17 am, Mike Hord wrote:
> I prefer to use the nasty term embedded in the title of this
> website, as it tends to lead to one being labelled a "kook",
> or worse, a "pseudo-scientist".

Yes, there are some ideas that qualify as "kook" and "pseudo-scientist", 
however, if you put the "kook" theories aside, what you're looking at is 
most likely based on static electricity.
You recall how if you touch a Tesla coil and your hair lifts due to static 
electricity, while in other cases things cling together (such as some 
clothes coming out of a dryer)?

This seems to (I think) word it correctly:
http://evolve000.topcities.com/crazye/ceflyingcap.html
--quote--
"It turns out that the device probably depends more on ions than on 
capacitance"
--quote--

...that website points here, which seems to show better info:
http://jnaudin.free.fr/lifters/main.htm


> I feel it's worth mentioning to the PICList as a whole,
> because I think many who haven't seen it may be interested,
> and those who have seen it may have some input for me
> about how it works/if it works.
>
> http://www.americanantigravity.com
>
> Fascinating stuff, really.  In short, applying a high enough
> voltage (tens to hundreds of kilovolts) to a capacitor whose
> plates have different geometries in the correct orientation
> yields a net force sufficient to levitate light objects.
>
> Usually a piece of magnet wire in the same plane as a
> piece of metal foil.  The force vector follows that plane,
> from the foil to the wire.
>
> The most interesting part is that while no one seems to be
> able to provide a really adequate explanation for the physics
> involved (at least not one that I wouldn't consider
> "pseudoscientific"), a great deal of experimentation in this
> field seems to be occuring in basements and garages
> while almost none seems to be occuring on an industrial
> scale.
>
> Mike H.
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