Ion Lifters

[pauluffel]

In the latest issue of Wired magazine, there was an article about 'Lifters.' These are simple little devices that use really fun physics or magic to produce lift (and by doing so, hover) with no moving parts. Directions for making lifters can be found here. These are very simple devices, as their lift comes entirely from the ions that are created and flow between the positively charged wire and negatively charged foil part below the wire. In order to create enough force to counter that of gravity, though, the charge between these two must be very high and thus these lifters require a power supply of around 20,000 volts (ouch). Twenty-thousand volts isn't too bad as long as the amperage is still very low (it shouldn't be any worse than a touch of static electricity) but it is still enough to fry small transformers when they're connected to a house's current backwards so as to increase the voltage rather than decrease it (twice did my room partake of the magic smoke last night.)
I've made a couple of these little lifters, but I haven't been able to supply the voltage they need to start ionizing air. Does anyone have ideas as to what I could do to get that kind of voltage in my house using mainly spoons (or other things I might have lying around or be able to buy inexpensively)?
[Or if you manage to build one of these yourself, I would love to hear about it]

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