HIGH VOLTAGE LIFTER

The high voltage lifter has gained notoriety in recent years because it has been presented as an anti-gravity device, as not understood by science, and somehow connected to free energy and perpetual motion. The high voltage lifter is not a new discovery as the video below shows. It is completely understood as the third law reaction force to the "ion wind" or "coronal wind" generated by sharp points or edges held at high voltage. Around the tips the air is ionized and charged ions are accelerated by the electric field. The ions collide with neutral air molecules, setting them in motion creating the wind. Benjamin Franklin played with the ion wind, using it to bend candle flames. In the 1950's and 60's and again in the 90's there were various fanciful propulsion schemes for ion wind propelled aircraft and blimps. Ion wind engines require ambient neutral gas which is weakly ionized and set into motion through collisions.

Ion thrusters used for deep space propulsion are different. They carry their own fuel and accelerate ions to high energy as they are expelled into space. The total thrust is much less than ion wind engines operating in the atmosphere but they use the limited fuel very efficiently due to the high specific thrust which can be achieved.