Laser, graphene, propulsion

Yikes, if we pattern diamond with diamond oxide, Global Warming will fry us all.

Diamond semiconductors would be great, but they have been the new-new thing for decades now.

SiO2 is great insulator, and easy to generate, but it's not the only possib le insulating material. In fact undoped diamond is a pretty good insulator

- whether the hydrogen-rich stuff you can vapour deposit is decent insulato r is an interesting question.

Anthropogenic lobal warming is going to fry us all (or at least our descend ants) if we don't do something about it fairly soon. Trying to put a carbon dioxide insulating layer on a very cold diamond transistor probably wouldn 't make any difference, one way or another.

One thing we can rely on is that you haven't got a clue about any of it, bu t you do believe everything the Murdoch media tell you.

They've been something for guru's to speculate about for decades now. The f act that transistors started off with germanium and went to silicon makes c arbon the obvious next step, but actually making something that works hasn' t happened yet.

Considering how much we've invested in silicon, GaAs and other III-V semico nductors, one might suspect that diamond is in the too-hard basket and like ly to remain there.

Hi,

Ok, maybe it is a new type of electrostatic rail gun? There could be some electric field transferred to the glass from the transverse layers of graphene sheets, and if things are spaced just right maybe the sheets can walk up the glass like a ladder too, with toothed/cogged electric field charges on the glass surface, from the transverse graphene sheets.

cheers, Jamie

I guess thats a switched reluctance motor kind of not a rail gun.

I have no idea what you're talking about. Do you?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Hi,

Ya, if you shine the laser onto a single sheet of graphene, it will create surface plasmon's that spread transversely to the edge of the graphene sheet (near the glass in this case). That should create an electric field at the edge of the graphene sheet. My (crazy) idea is that for each subsequent graphene sheet in the stack of graphene sheets, a different plasmonic wave will be spreading to the glass from the input laser light, so this can create a cogged electric field charge on the glass surface, with one cog in the field per graphene sheet layer.

If there is some capacitive charge in the glass then it could act as some type of motor as the delay in surface charge on the glass acts against the plasmonic waves in the graphene sheet layers.

That is just one crazy idea to explain it, like some type of electrostatic motor, analogous to a switched reluctance motor in some sense.

crazy ideas should be taken in context :)

cheers, Jamie

Crazy ideas don't explain anything whatsoever. If they're sufficiently suggestive, they may be a jumping-off point for other valuable work.

But you very clearly don't know what all those terms you're throwing around actually mean, so with all due respect, you aren't doing science, you're just j**king off.

There's a simple argument based on things like conservation of charge and energy that shows it can't be true. (See my earlier posts.)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

On Mon, 15 Jun 2015 16:38:33 -0700 (PDT), Phil Hobbs Gave us:

John Candy doing 3-D video. :-)

or... They blowed up REAL GOOD.

On a sunny day (Mon, 15 Jun 2015 17:54:52 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Phil Hobbs wrote in :

Well, I dunno, I could imagine in _air_ the laser creating an ionisation path, and them having rubbed the glass tube clean and shiny for the 'videos' creating a charge imbalance. Picking up a piece of paper with static 'tricity is easy. A femto mass sponge would be even easier.

They say no air, but how good is that vacuum?

But plz, I just had breakfast, not even coffee yet.

I guess electrons ejected from the puck could pile up below, in gas or on the glass, and repel the puck. But that sounds improbable to me.

Maybe I had too much coffee.

I sent an email to the author 3 days ago, with my question and Phil's answer with math. But also asking if the laser was continuous and how long did the graphene levitate before gravity brought it down and what was the total height reached. No Response. ;-) Mikek

Hi,

Ya that is similar to what I was thinking if the electrons are isolated from reaching consecutive layers of the graphene, then each consecutive layer should build up a charge imbalance. If the edge of the graphene is conductive layer to layer, then there would be a current axially to the graphene stack on the edge (near the glass) that could be a motive force to move the stack axially.

It would be kind of like a multi-junction solar cell, shorted out across the edge.

cheers, Jamie

science, you're just j**king off.

Hi,

I think your previous argument applies to the electrons actual kinetic energy not being enough to lift the graphene stack, but if instead the electrons static charge is used, then that can provide a motive force proportional to the efficiency of the laser light to electrical conversion efficiency theoretically, just like any "electric motor", assuming it is an "electrostatic motor" acting on the glass wall.

cheers, Jamie

motor" acting on the glass wall.

You must be pretty rich, or else you wouldn't be able to afford such amazingly good drugs.

What exactly are you proposing?

If the emitted electrons are still hanging around after being emitted towards the laser, they'll be pulling the sponge down, not propelling it upwards.

I mean, I'm from the '70s myself, so warp drives and such are great fun, *if they work*.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Hi,

I don't know the mechanism, but just used a process of elimination to show if there is an actual force, and the tube is a true vacuum, with no weight change in the graphene stack, and also using your determination that the kinetic energy of the electrons ejected is too low, then there must be some interaction with the glass causing the motive force. Then the logical conclusion would be an electrostatic cause for the force, but I guess it could be thermal too, and "floating" electrons could get pushed upwards between the glass and the graphene stack by the extra heat at the bottom of the graphene stack.

Unfortunately no drugs were involved (or is that fortunately?)

cheers, Jamie

I didn't realize what you meant originally, but that is an interesting idea - the cloud of electrons below the puck will want to expand, and the glass is an insulator so they should have some force pushing upwards on the puck, and the cloud temperature depends on the kinetic energy of the electrons emitted from the puck and how many are emitted.

Could test it by having a variable resistor with metal conductors inside the glass shorting across the area above and below the puck to dissipate the cloud of electrons etc.

cheers, Jamie

On Tue, 16 Jun 2015 17:44:52 -0700 (PDT), Phil Hobbs Gave us:

Hahahahaha! I agree 100%!

On Tue, 16 Jun 2015 17:44:52 -0700 (PDT), Phil Hobbs Gave us:

Hahahahaha! I agree 100%!

Hi,

I think the complete circuit would have the electrons traveling axially down towards the laser in the outer edge of the graphene stack, this current would be the "solar cell" effect from the small bandgap between each sheet of graphene, which is in this case is only conductive where they are joined on the edges apparently. This should build up a charge of excess electrons on the edge of the bottom graphene sheet closest to the laser, and the edge may act as an electron emitter in the vacuum at a sufficent voltage via electron field emission, and then these electrons will be attracted to the top of the stack, traveling in the vacuum between the glass and the graphene stack, rejoining at various parts of the stack to complete the electrical circuit.

So the upwards propulsive force on the graphene stack would result from the electrons upward motion in the vacuum between the glass and the graphene stack somehow possibly??

cheers, Jamie