Here are pictures from high-voltage experiment where light testobjects lifted off the ground and stayed afloat in the air. Lifting force was generated by ion wind.
Warning:
Dont try this at home as it involves voltages around 20kV and could be lethal.
Also, ion wind has nasty habit of charging up things nearby (and yourself too!).
In the second test we used 2 triangles and it floated much better this time but wasn't stable enough.
Third try - 4 triangles. This thing took off and levitated well, images of it taken from different angles here, here, here and here.
| Copper wire 0.1mm | Used as first (upper) electrode |
| Aluminium foil | Used for forming second (lower) electrode, although more often it is used in the kitchen :-) |
| Wooden grill sticks | These needed some aid from sharp knife as they were too massive, we cut them in about 1mm diameter. Good for holding electrodes apart and the whole thing in shape |
| Super Glue | We found it useful when attaching foil to floater sceleton |
| Tape | For completing full assembly |
| Old Sun monitor | Power supply of 20kV |
Building lifters is relatively easy. We started with preparing wooden sticks, they should be as straight as possible. Curved shape is no good in this case. For our biggest lifter we needed 9 (about 20cm) long and 6 short (about 5cm, electrode holders) ones. Then we cut and attached aluminium foil to the long sticks, using Super Glue for firmer hold. Then we could assemble lower (foil) electrode part with pieces of tape and foil bridges between parts and also putting electrode holders into place. Take care not to break the foil. Resulting frame is relatively rigid and is ready for attaching upper electrode (thin copper wire) by winding the wire around holder sticks. The electrodes should have equal gap through the whole assembly. Our gap was about 2.5-3cm.
