On the exhaust of electromagnetic drive
Abstract
Recent reports about propulsion without reaction mass have been met on one hand
with enthusiasm and on the other hand with some doubts. Namely, closed metal
cavities, when fueled with microwaves, have delivered thrust that could eventually
maintain satellites on orbits using solar power. However, the measured thrust
appears to be without any apparent exhaust. Thus the Law of Action-Reaction
seems to have been violated. We consider the possibility that the exhaust is in a
form that has so far escaped both experimental detection and theoretical attention.
In the thruster’s cavity microwaves interfere with each other and invariably some
photons will also end up co-propagating with opposite phases. At the destructive
interference electromagnetic fields cancel. However, the photons themselves do not
vanish for nothing but continue in propagation. These photon pairs without net
electromagnetic field do not reflect back from the metal walls but escape from
the resonator. By this action momentum is lost from the cavity which, according
to the conservation of momentum, gives rise to an equal and opposite reaction.
We examine theoretical corollaries and practical concerns that follow from the
paired-photon conclusion.
Main Authors
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2016
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
American Institute of Physics
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-201606082968Käytä tätä linkitykseen.
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2158-3226
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4953807
Language
English
Published in
AIP Advances
Citation
- Grahn, P., Annila, A., & Kolehmainen, E. (2016). On the exhaust of electromagnetic drive. AIP Advances, 6(6), Article 065205. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4953807
Copyright© 2016 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise
noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.