Re: Capacitor charge, were is it?

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Capacitor charge, were is it?
From: huffman <huffman-at-fnal.gov>
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 09:06:52 -0600
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Hi All,
Thought experiments are great, aren't they! The space ship idea make me
think of a self contained TC built inside the discharge electrode, but as
Malcolm states, where would you get a counterpoise or ground? Could there
be a way to compress the charge someplace like the way a submarine
compresses the air on order to change its ballast? The inside charge would
certainly be neutralized by the outside charge.
Dave
----------
> From: Tesla List <tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
> To: Tesla-list-subscribers-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Capacitor charge, were is it?
> Date: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 11:25 PM
> 
> >From MALCOLM-at-directorate.wnp.ac.nzWed Oct 30 21:49:22 1996
> Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 10:45:07 +1200
> From: Malcolm Watts <MALCOLM-at-directorate.wnp.ac.nz>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Capacitor charge, were is it?
> 
> Here's an interesting little poser following on from this post....
> 
> > > Food for thought -
> > > 
> > > >A Tesla coil can put a charge on the secondary terminal. If this
terminal
> > > is >the outside skin of a space station could a space station charged
by an
> > > on >board Tesla coil attract or repel a nearby shuttle that is
charged by
> > > it's own >Tesla coil?
> > > 
> > > This could make Tesla coils very popular in the near future.
> > > 
> > > >>>> Jack C. <<<<
> > 
> > Jack,
> > 
> > You bet it could!!  This is the isotropic capacitor bit again.  The 
> > forces which would cause the motion are all coulombic.  The forces are 
> > real and viable. A number of scenarios involving space propulsion where

> > no matter is ejeced are under study at this time.  This is the very 
> > premise of the Electric Spacecraft Journal magazine.  To investigate 
> > these possiblilities.  The Tesla coil has a great chance in this area.
> > 
> > Richard Hull , TCBOR
> 
>      To charge the skin of the craft requires charge separation. I am
> assuming that the skin is, say, positively charged for one craft. 
> This implies that the electrons removed from the skin are stored 
> somewhere internally (if nothing is to be ejected). Questions : is 
> there a nett charge on the outer skin under these conditions? Is the 
> craft itself not a self-contained capacitor (no nett external field)?
> In a grounded TC we are charging the terminal at the expense of the 
> ground, counterpoise or whatever, and that is external to the 
> terminal.
> 
> Malcolm