"Christopher Tidy" wrote in message
...
About 20 years ago I worked with a physicist, he thought this might
work. So as his tech I proceeded to build a Van de Graaff with oil
as
the medium to move the charge, We used a sump pump to pump the oil.
It didn't work on the first try, and there was no attempt to alter
it to make it work. I don't know if he figured out a flaw in the
idea,
or, if we decided we needed to go back to money making work. I was
disappointed, it was just dropped with no further thought.
We did use a high voltage power supply as you suggest above.
Mikek

Hi Mike,

That's interesting to hear that someone has already tried it. I'd be
keen to hear a little more about the details of the design and
materials, if you can recall them. There might be a fundamental
problem, but it might just be a minor design issue which could be
resolved.

Best wishes,

Chris

==========

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrohydrodynamics

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/740551.pdf

-jsw