4 ms·

In physics of the impossible (in 2008, I know a lot of our opinions of the author have shifted) Michio Kaku makes a pretty good case that force fields are the l

by b33j0r 3y ago

In physics of the impossible (in 2008, I know a lot of our opinions of the author have shifted) Michio Kaku makes a pretty good case that force fields are the least likely phenomenon to exist. There’s just not a field that hangs out in space and forms a repulsive boundary to matter as its interaction, besides matter. The EM field kinda, but no one means big magnets when they think of a practical force field (if so, “QED,” they already exist) :p

BobaFloutist 3y ago
Shear-thickening gas? Is that anything?
blincoln 3y ago
3M's mysterious 1980 repulsion field? [1] [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectroBOOM/comments/9jig1l/can_you_confirmdebunk_the_3m_electrostatic/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectroBOOM/comments/9jig1l/can_you...
- b33j0r 3y ago
  Nice! I couldn’t remember the details, but I was thinking of this too as the “maybe.” I’m very skeptical of that story though. You’d think the strength of the electric field would have to be gigavolts/meter. I just said gigavolts because of Doc Brown :p I just know it would be more than a van degraff generator or a tesla coil. Lightning is in the 10k’s V/m. I’m an electrical engineer (ok, ok, 3.5/4 of one. I had already graduated in CS, and quit early for a job). I can’t imagine a static electric field with these properties. The dielectric breakdown voltage of pretty much everything, especially air, would be relatively very small compared to that field, to generate a physical force at that distance. Neodymium magnets can do that at millimeters apart, nothing really does at a few meters. And why weren’t opposite or neutrally charged things sucked into it? Sounds like a really sciency-sounding legend. Maybe there was a small effect and a story grew. — I just realized that the HN link is like 10 hours of everything I just said in the comments (but higher effort, I guess they went all 4-7 years, lol). Haha, anyway. Add me to the skeptics. Life is usually boring :/

by b33j0r 3y ago

BobaFloutist 3y ago

Shear-thickening gas? Is that anything?

blincoln 3y ago

3M's mysterious 1980 repulsion field? [1] [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectroBOOM/comments/9jig1l/can_you_confirmdebunk_the_3m_electrostatic/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectroBOOM/comments/9jig1l/can_you...

b33j0r 3y ago
Nice! I couldn’t remember the details, but I was thinking of this too as the “maybe.” I’m very skeptical of that story though. You’d think the strength of the electric field would have to be gigavolts/meter. I just said gigavolts because of Doc Brown :p I just know it would be more than a van degraff generator or a tesla coil. Lightning is in the 10k’s V/m. I’m an electrical engineer (ok, ok, 3.5/4 of one. I had already graduated in CS, and quit early for a job). I can’t imagine a static electric field with these properties. The dielectric breakdown voltage of pretty much everything, especially air, would be relatively very small compared to that field, to generate a physical force at that distance. Neodymium magnets can do that at millimeters apart, nothing really does at a few meters. And why weren’t opposite or neutrally charged things sucked into it? Sounds like a really sciency-sounding legend. Maybe there was a small effect and a story grew. — I just realized that the HN link is like 10 hours of everything I just said in the comments (but higher effort, I guess they went all 4-7 years, lol). Haha, anyway. Add me to the skeptics. Life is usually boring :/