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]
According to Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” This definitely constitues a “sufficiently advanced technology”, in my opinion.
Very awesome stuff they’re doing, these days.
In my high school physics class, my teacher (coach of 258, at the time, and currently coach of 360), Eric Stokely, had this fixation on flying cars. It was quite funny to hear him complain about the fact that they don’t exist, yet. Oh well, one step closer. 
I’ve been toying with the idea of building one myself for a while, but I’m afraid it would probabaly turn into one of those projects I’d forget about.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much that you can find around your house for such a project, other than some flyback transformers from an unused/old television. Be careful poking around in there, though. The other (cheap ‘n’ dirty) option that has been discussed around various “lifter” (I like to call it electrokinetic propulsion, it’s more professional) sites, is using the ignition coil from various automobiles.
As stated on the web site, the HV power supply from an older style computer monitor or TV set should be all the power supply you need.
One thing that jumped out at me… Use a high voltage wire for this job. As an example: P/N 39X2220 from: http://www.dearborn-cdt.com/catalog/HW-39X.html is good to 20KV. Please don’t shortcut here…
Another thing, wear safety glasses!
I think that this is a great project but I strongly recommend that you get a EE or physics teacher to supervise. Working with high voltage is not something you should cavalierly attempt.
Mr. Plasma,
Send Mr Stokely this link: http://www.moller.com/skycar/
I believe this probe used ion technology:
http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1/
And here are some more directions on how to make an ion producing device:
http://www.nutsvolts.com/PDF_Files/ionmotor.pdf
Its a pretty cool form of propulsion if you ask me. Reliable, cheap, and ,compared to a rocket, it lasts longer.
According to Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” This definitely constitues a “sufficiently advanced technology”, in my opinion.
I remeber watching a movie in physics. The guy was talking about ion propulsion and how it was first mentioned on star trek.
I actually MADE one of these!!! But they are not ion powered… Its just unknown what they are powered buy… that is, according to nasa… And they own the patant… $@#$@#$@#$@# thiefs.
I watched them make one of those on MythBusters last night and it worked.