I’ve finally finished wading through a paper in the field of gravitational physics that leaves me near ready for a double dose of aspirin. I’ll be the first to admit my Physics and Calculus have large flecks of rust flaking off them when I attempt a mountain of arcanity such as this.
I can only say I followed enough of it to say it’s real science and if true we’ve finally moved from physics grad student’s pub time what-if to verifiable laboratory manipulation of gravity. Yes, go back re-read what I just said. You didn’t imagine it.
The gist of the paper, and gist is about all I can give you, is that with high voltage discharges from a superconducting ceramic electrode in a strong externally generated magnetic field a gravity pulse occurs in the direction of the electric discharge. The pulse detection was carried out with an instrumented pendulum up to 150 meters from the generator. The impulse effect, while not huge, is measurable to the unaided eye.
What is important is not the size of the laboratory effect. It is that a coupling between gravity and manipulatable forces exists at all. If his theoretical work is correct, I think there may be a practical engineering field just a decade or so beyond the science.
Bear in mind that none of this is proven yet. Someone might come along and explain away Podkletnov’s results by experimental error, or it might be some new physics with nothing to do with gravity.
But it does look very interesting.
“Impulse Gravity Generator Based on Charged YBa2Cu3O(7-y) Superconductor with Composite Crystal Structure” by Evgeny Podkletnov and Giovanni Modanese is available for download from Cornell University’s archive of research papers.
