An analysis of the Brown-Biefeld effect

TL;DR

This paper investigates the Brown-Biefeld effect, attributing it to ion wind, and provides both theoretical calculations and experimental validation of the levitation force caused by high-voltage asymmetric capacitors.

Contribution

It offers a detailed calculation of the ion wind force and experimental evidence supporting the ion wind explanation for the Brown-Biefeld effect.

Findings

Theoretical calculations match experimental measurements.

Ion wind is confirmed as the primary cause of the effect.

Experimental results support the ion wind hypothesis.

Abstract

When a high voltage is applied on an asymmetric capacitor, it experiences a force acting toward its thinner electrode. This effect is called Brown-Biefeld effect (BB), after its discoverers Thomas-Townsend Brown and Paul-Alfred Biefeld. Many theories have been proposed to explain this effect, and many speculations can be found on the net suggesting the effect is an antigravitation or a space warp effect. However, in the recent years, more an more researchers attribute the BB effect to a unicharge ion wind. This work calculates the levitation force due to ion wind and presents experimental results which confirm the theoretical results.