Homemade ion powered hoverbike?

[Ironwatsas]

Recently, I breifly saw on the Discovery channel (I think), a Seattle resident create a small Ion hover machine (yes it flew) made out of Balsa wood, Aluminum Foil, Steel wire, and Extention cord powered by a 5000 (Approx) volt Alternator. It works on the 'Ion wind' principal that electricaly charged air molecules will be forced away from the conductor (the aluminum foil) and cause the vehicle to move (obviously provided thrust > weight)

Now I could probably make something like that out of stuff laying around my kitchen, but I wanna go one step further, and build something I can drive around town on. Before I go to barrow one of the city's transformers, I'm going to give Relic a try.

My initial idea is to build a basic model consisting of the hover array with a peice of plywood for someone to sit on that could be pulled by other people or tobagened down a hill.

My ultimate plan is a small, fully controlable vehicle consisting of the Hover array mounted inside a lawnmower blade cowling propelled forward by a fan or possibly Co2 canesters or small rockets with a seat and handlebar (possibly controling rudders or some other reacton control system) that might float several inches above the ground (high enough to avoid grass or rocks or other yard debris). So I ask you SCIENCE (tm) adept legions of Relic to assist me on this thing I'm doing.

(*note that this is still in the very basic conceptual stage {no one has yet told me this won't work} and no attempt will be made to construct a Hovering 'Watsasmobile' until such time as the supplies and designs are finalised. SCIENCE!)

[No1lives4ever]

Don't do it.

You WILL kill yourself.

Just think about it, the power needed to lift a person with that kind of vehicle is .. A lot!
Having that kind of power at a voltage of over 5000 (which i doubt will be enough for this scale) will be enough for a short of more then a few Amps through your body someday.

And if that won't do the trick, you still have this thing you are sitting on thats nothing less then a homebuild capacitor, which after shutting down your transformator still holds a deadly amount of energy.


Again, don't do it.

[reki]

Anyone else remember this thread from four and a half years ago?

[Ironwatsas]

@No1lives4ever: Replace the word 'me' with 'Relicfourms' and the words 'Make/Build' with 'Conceptual idea pool of members not of the scientific community having an enlightened discussion of the possibilities of building Ion powered hovercraft'


Theoreticly, If the resources and personell were available, what would it take to make a workable vehicle as described above?

[Inert]

If you don't know conceptual physics yourself, I'd advise against even doing anything, too [regardless of whether or not we give you advice].

[Ironwatsas]

It's not like I'm actually going to do it, you of all people should know I'm barely capable of operating my fusebox let alone a state of the art prototype hovercraft.

But if I/You/Someone else could, how?

[The5thElephant]

Do it. Now.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

I would think something like this suffers extremely from problems of scale. The larger it is, the stronger (and therefore heavier) materials it needs to be made of, necessitating that increasing amounts of space and weight be dedicated to generating lift. It would probably require some real fancy materials to be able to lift a person...

[Ironwatsas]

Plywood?

Either way, the first issue is power, enough to allow the vehicle to lift itself and a person. The quick fix solution is hooking an extention cord between the vehicle and a large genorator. The only way that will work commercially is if a system of overhead wires and pantographs, like the ones used for high speed passenger trains is erected. Obviously, that's a little more than anyone's going to spend so a more portable system must be made available.

At the least, for the prototype stages, the prototype hovercar has to be able to haul it's own genorator on a wheeled trailer or remain tethered to a power line. Which theoretical scientific principal could be married to the Hovercar so it can go on it's own? Doesn't have to be feasable today, but down the road?

[Question]

What im confused is why you didnt start this thread with a poll of "How likely am i get to get killed doing this?"

[The5thElephant]

Anyone else remember this thread from four and a half years ago?

Upon reading that thread I realized how incredibly different a typical thread goes now compared to back then. There were so many blatant scientific errors being made in that thread and no one corrected them or somehow managed to segue into an argument about evolution versus creation.

[naradaman]

The times... they are 'a changing.

Anyway, this would be awesome. I say go for it, but take the necessary precautions to protect yourself from electrocution. (as if you wouldn't anyway, I s'pose.)

edit: from that thread

My theory on anti garvity, produce a device that produces a magnetic field that is the same as the earth's, but don't make the field too powerful or what ever is ontop of it will go flying out into space.

heheheh, 'SCIENCE!!' indeed.

[No1lives4ever]

And if you go for it, start small.

By using a HV transformer from a CRT TV, you should be able to lift a small mockup. This will be relatively safe, as long as you don't use it to charge something big.

Get your share of Zap's and decide if you dare to continue.

Oh, and I don't know if this is allowed,
but for your own good, head over to 4hv.org and read up on the subject from guys that have done it themselves. That is, if you didn't already do this.

[No Surrender]

If you attempt and somehow survive this, Darwin would be very, very disappointed.

[tyrion]

I'm biting back an awful lot of sarcasm if for no other reason than so many others will do it for me.....so I'll just echo the posts urging caution, and use of strong glue.

Btw, I quite like arguments about evolution v creationism. Especially when it's twenty five against one.....

[Handarazuur]

he did it! He finally did it!

Sounds like Cop Spinner V0.0000001.

[SquidDNA]

5th, you might have noticed I was not only spamming, I was Omnislashing. It was a different world we lived in.

[Moe]

Now I could probably make something like that out of stuff laying around my kitchen, but I wanna go one step further, and build something I can drive around town on. Before I go to barrow one of the city's transformers, I'm going to give Relic a try.

How much do you weigh? Let's call it 150 pounds fully dressed, give or take a few. Add to that the weight of your vehicle, the weight needed for the huge-ass battery array and other things, and you'll need roughly eleventy bajillion volts, draining your batteries in a really really short time.

No, this is not feasible at all.

[Elukka]

This reminds me of Mythbusters. They put 3 vacuum cleaner engines on a piece of wood to make a small "hoverboard". They also built some other nice hovering stuff.

[SquidDNA]

Moe, so it's 150 lbs if an ion drive lifts or 100 lbs if a girl?

[Moe]

I am going to kill you with no gym at home.

[BmB]

Whatever became of the Wizzard™ powered brilliancy of powering yourself on Earth's magnetic field?

[Ammon Ra]

*cough* Ask squiddy. He invented the Wizard part.

[Hablacraja]

/me sits in a fetal position facing the corner

[BmB]

Moe, so it's 150 lbs if an ion drive lifts or 100 lbs if a girl?

I don't get it. 20 like 30 again? Or what?

[Verrin]

You'd think if it could be done in a practical sense, you'd see them everywhere by now. And any project involving the added danger of a lawnmower blade doesn't equate to brilliant in my mind.

On a side note, I'm pretty sure there's only one man in existence who can feasibly make a functional ion powered hoverbike out of regular kitchen utensils, and that's macgyver.

[DatonKallandor]

Verrin, the correct statement would obviously include Tom Selleck.


Daton

[JAL-18]

You could power it with SPAM, but unfortunately I'm reducing the supply of it right now, so all I can say is this:

Don't blow yourself up.