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Millikan’s Mist
Suspending a number of charged particles above an electrode plate | |
Millikan famously determined the charge of the electron by suspending charged oil droplets above an electrode plate. By adjusting the voltage of the plate, he was able to balance the forces of gravity and electric field on the oil droplet and keep it levitating.
A cool sculpture could be formed if
a mist of charged particles of carefully controlled material, colour, size and charge were placed above an electrode plate. The droplets could be placed by something resembling an ink-jet printer.
Instead of an electrode plate an array of electrodes could be used.
Variations in the electrode array voltages could cause movement in the sculpture.
Preferably the mist sculpture would be in a transparent container to allow for control of pressure, temperature and composition of atmosphere.
Electrodes on the walls of the container would be necessary to confine the mist.
A different approach
http://www.halfbake...rrealist_20Fountain
[RayfordSteele, Nov 15 2004]
[link]
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You could even add instant shapeshifting to the sculpture. Brill. |
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Hey, I want one of these for my garden (in [po]'s night garden) wedding. |
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This is actually a great idea, even if I thought it was going to be about angry dairy-product delivery workers. |
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is the suspension stable? I thought a little side-motion would move it outside the balanced field, and it would crash. Could it last more than an hour with so many drops in the air? Would you be able to view it from any angle, or just top-down? |
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If you heated the oil very hot, possibly using infrared lamps, you could deep fry small vegetables and meat slices by throwing them thru the sculpture. You would not want to catch them in your mouth, but you could catch them atop the spout of a leaf-blower type apparatus and carry them suspended to the table. |
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Side-motion would be easily-enough contained...electromagnets, my friend. If it's good enough for a Tokamak, it's good enough for a sculpture. |
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I doubt if that level of detail would be available, Pete. And how would you separate the colors? |
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I keep reading this as Milkman's Mist. |
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Miliken's missed a few years of his life, spending them in prison for junk bond hijinks. |
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Combined with a hologram and Spock could speak again. ( The mist doing the lips, and the hologram the rest of the head. ) |
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From a person that doesn't really like numbers but knows of their value, the numbers involving height, closeness and droplet size would interestingly show the mist. |
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Some scaling up of the medium might be needed. |
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