Carl White wrote:williatw wrote:Just out of curiosity...is it reasonably possible that both EM Drive & Mach Thruster drive will turn out to work? Or are their "theories" of operation in some way incompatible?
My understanding is that the proposed theory for the workings of the EmDrive involves rejecting wave-particle duality. In other words, it claims photons occupy a specific location in space at any given time and that something else (unspecified) is the source of strangeness.
The Mach Effect is based on Mach's Principle, which, put vaguely, is "mass out there influences inertia". So there doesn't seem to be much common ground.
Dr. Jean-Philippe Montillet has suggested that if the EmDrive works, it's because it is functioning as a capacitor and that the Mach Effect applies. Dr. Rodal of Heidi Fearn's MEGA team talks about that here: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40959.msg1588165#msg1588165.
Anyhow, I'm not the best person to ask. Maybe someone else can provide a better explanation.
She mentioned Mach- Lorentz effects, hasn't it been established that Mach effects require bulk acceleration, which Lorentz forces accelerating just the ions can't do?
Reminds me I need to post about some Mach thruster questions I have.