The Biefeld-Brown Effect: Misinterpretation of Corona Wind Phenomena

Originating from the early 1920's, the so-called Biefeld-Brown effect claims the generation of thrust in capacitor configurations exposed to high voltage. This thrust was claimed to be not due to corona wind phenomena and also exists in vacuum. These claims, although only published in patents, survived until recent publications for very advanced propulsion concepts. This paper reviews Brown's and similar work, as well as credible theoretical and experimental studies relating to the Biefeld-Brown effect. Moreover, an experiment was carried out to investigate any thrust not related to corona discharges. No thrust was detected within the accuracy of the experimental set-up. This puts new boundaries on any anomalous Biefeld-Brown force. Measurements indicate, that such anomalous force must be at least five orders of magnitude below corona wind phenomena and have at least a two orders of magnitude higher power-to-thrust ration compared to traditional electric propulsion thrusters. Hence, even if the effect exists, it would be not attractive for space propulsion. The obtained results suggest that corona wind effects were misinterpreted as a connection between gravity and electromagnetism. * Staff Member, also Lecturer, Aerospace Engineering Department, Vienna University of Technology, Email: [email protected], Phone: +43-50550-3142, Fax: +43-50550-3366