Anti-gravity

[Sno]

What would it take to make something hover, like in BZ?

I'm talking academics, materials, and schematics. Not "oh geeee silly willy just put a big fan underneath an inflatable tube thing and turn it on."

I ask because quite frankly, game-folks and computer-smart people run the world

[Blunt Force Trauma]

I would link to the device I use in my tanks, but the thread got pruned.

All has been lost to antiquity.

[hitchcockgreen]

Certainly nothing like the Avro-Car.

For those of you not in the know, Canada, in the 1960s, was actually an aerospace leader (Conservative Party took power in '63 and effectively ended that development) - and created the Avro Arrow.

They also developed the Avro Car.
Which basically looked like a UFO that two people could sit in and could glide across the ground levitated by a giant fan. It never really got out of the early stages of development before the whole Avro program was scrapped.

f*** Cons.

[Ded10c]

A proper understanding of gravity and something with negative mass.

Or possibly dark matter.


We can't possibly begin to make something "anti-gravity" until we actually know what gravity is and what causes it. Once we've got that down, we can work on it. Antigravity implies that Newton made a pretty significant mistake in his gravitational law.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Limitations with any method using a mechanical system to propel the surrounding gas or fluid is the availability of the medium. Once that is gone, either by leaving an atmosphere or visiting another body, you are stuck having to carry your own mass to 'throw' in the direction opposite to where you want to go.

And almost all other bodies humans might conceivably explore in our solar system do not provide any available mass to grab and throw (moons, asteroids, comets). Even Mars is extremely problematic with an ultra-thin atmosphere equivalent to being 25,000 meters above the surface here on earth.

The 'holy grail' of 'anti-gravity' is finding a method such as advanced diamagnetism or some other repulsive force working past coulomb's law not utilizing surrounding mass for newton's third law. Theoretical monopoles and ambient or higher temperature superconductivity may provide promise in the future. Of course something revolutionary may be discovered.

[Sno]

What about that proton collider-thing that CERN is experimenting with? I understand it could let us peep into what dark matter (maybe it's actually dark energy) might be, but what about using it to confirm anti-gravity theories? I think I'm watching too much of that "in the wormhole with Morgan Freeman."


That AvroCar is freaking sweet, but the schematics looks like it was loud as HELLL!

[hitchcockgreen]

I tried to find a video of one with the actual sound (I'd seen a few docs in the past that had the actual footage without voiceovers, etc, but didn't see one on youtube yet).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3lQ4L_36c

They were really unstable.

[FirBirGir]

The quad copter capabilities could revive the flying car if someone wants to get serious about it. But there are many problems with flying cars, one being our limited ability to truly navigate in 3D space.

And Hovercraft cars don't buy a person much over a regular car and introduce some serious problems (try driving one on a windy day and see if you can stay in your lane). The Avro car was having a hard time keeping level at 1ft off the ground. Imagine trying to go the speed limit in it.

The future is active roadways, the road interacting with the vehicle, instead of just being a flat surface.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/2862586

Eddy

[hitchcockgreen]

Yeah the avrocar never really got the full development it should have. And yes, much too unstable when it was being worked on.

That being said, I do recall that there was a company out of California that was selling "flying cars" (which were more like car-sized personal airplanes) for close to a million a piece.

That must have been almost 15 years ago or so. I wanted one of those babies.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

A guy that has come and go then returned again to the media spotlight over the years is Paul Moller. He has had the dream for decades and is still pursuing it.

He envisions a system not unlike what Firbir linked.

[hitchcockgreen]

I would link to the device I use in my tanks, but the thread got pruned.

All has been lost to antiquity.

I know pruning effectively deletes the post from the forum, but is it not still stored in the database?

[hitchcockgreen]

A guy that has come and go then returned again to the media spotlight over the years is Paul Moller. He has had the dream for decades and is still pursuing it.

He envisions a system not unlike what Firbir linked.

Hey that's the one!

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Well, it would be nice to get my re-imagined BDOG thread back, but it's not a big deal. I'm getting used to losing threads after BZU went down.

* * * * * * * *

As to human flyable quads. With amazing battery technology coming along. Next generation, ultra high output neodymium motors and the integration of GPS and electronic gyros and accelerometers, I strongly believe the day is not too far off, maybe 4 more years, when hobbyists will have the tech in their hands to build them for 10 to 20 thousand. We are there now with the flight control capability. Already the average joe is doing stuff unimaginable 5 years ago and and lifting several times the quad's own weight.

[Dx.]

"re-imagined BDOG thread back"

Was that here or on BZU?

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Here. I don't believe I ever posted a thread at BZU for the BDOG since there was a ton of re-imagined/redone BDOGs at BZU.

I may also bump the the armory, but it might suggest I want to work on it in the near future, and it looks like that thread has several months before it drops into the abyss.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/07/06/terr ... es-delays/