On Sep 20, 2004, at 1:09 PM, Jose Da Silva wrote:

> "It turns out that the device probably depends more on ions than on
> capacitance"
>
It always looked to me like it worked via "electric wind" which is a
pretty well documented thing.  That means it wouldn't work in a vacuum,
and would be pretty useless as a spacecraft motor.

There are a fair number of electrostatic motors that operate off of
very high voltages and very low currents.   These are often very
interesting looking, and one of the favorite demos
is operating them off the potential difference of ground vs a couple
hundred feet up.  Alas, I fear concervation of energy still applies,
and your volts*amps power rating is sufficiently tiny that these are
more an interesting project in low-friction construction than a viable
energy source...

BillW

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