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From: matthews@ecfa.jesnet.jsc.nasa.gov (Michael C. Matthews)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.skeptic
Subject: Re: anti-gravity?
Message-ID: <1991Jun19.015500.15580@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>
Date: 19 Jun 91 01:55:00 GMT
References: <1991Jun18.004625.156@falcon.aamrl.wpafb.af.mil> <1991Jun18.225759.23654@news.media.mit.edu>
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In article <1991Jun18.225759.23654@news.media.mit.edu> minsky@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky) writes:
>In article <1991Jun18.004625.156@falcon.aamrl.wpafb.af.mil> bkottmann@falcon.aamrl.wpafb.af.mil (Brett Kottmann) writes:
>>
>>	A researcher in Scotland has developed a device that harnesses
>>gyroscopic energy to lift a device against gravity--antigravity...
>>
>>	In demonstrations, the apparatus lifts against gravity (it is balanced
>>beforehand with an equal weight via balance arm).
>
>Well, this is good for a contest.  Balances are easy because one can
>make the required lift arbitrarily small.  So you can use
>
>   a surreptitious airflow
>   how 'bout running current through an electromagnet fied along the
>balance arm.  this will produce torque in the earth's field.  (Called
>a "dipping needle".
>   simply putting a few KV of DC between the hardware and the balance
>is almot sure to deflect the beam one way or the other, unless the
>environment is symmetrical.

...and don't forget my favorite trick (frequency-domain control system 
engineer that I am):

Weight your flywheel so that it is off-balance, and then spin it at 
the appropriate rate to shake the balance at one of its resonant 
frequencies-- hysteresis in the balance will cause it to show a constant
deflection of some value that depends on how hard you can shake it.

Never trust any mechanical force-measuring device with rotating machinery.

--
DISCLAIMER:  I frequently don't know what I'm talking about.
--
Mike Matthews                   |        matthews%ecfa@jesnic.jsc.nasa.gov
Tethered Vehicle Analysis Group | (backup) -->  matthews@asd2.jsc.nasa.gov
Advanced Projects Section; Navigation, Control, and Aeronautics Department
Lockheed Engineering & Sciences Company,  Houston, Texas,   (713) 333-7079