Is the following possible

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In summary, the conversation discusses the possibility of using a magnetic field to alter the direction of an electric current through air without interrupting the circuit. The idea is similar to how electron beams are deflected in CRT-based TVs and computer displays. The speaker suggests the potential for creating a "lightning gun" using this concept if there were a way for electrons to travel easily through space without a vacuum.
  • #1
Luminaether
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Is the following possible?

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/7648/unlednjc.png

The thick black lines represent an electric current that crosses a gap of air. A magnetic field is directed and intensified from 0T in such a way that the Lorentz force alters the direction of the current through the air without interrupting the circuit. Maybe by using an electrically superconductive gas? I appreciate I've probably got the field lines the wrong way round for the electrons to move in the direction they are depicted.
 
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  • #2
Luminaether said:
Is the following possible?

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/7648/unlednjc.png

The thick black lines represent an electric current that crosses a gap of air. A magnetic field is directed and intensified from 0T in such a way that the Lorentz force alters the direction of the current through the air without interrupting the circuit. Maybe by using an electrically superconductive gas? I appreciate I've probably got the field lines the wrong way round for the electrons to move in the direcion they are depicted.

Electrons don't travel so well in air, but in a vacuum, what you have drawn is similar to how the electron beam is deflected in your CRT-based TVs and computer displays.
 
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  • #3
berkeman said:
Electrons don't travel so well in air, but in a vacuum, what you have drawn is similar to how the electron beam is deflected in your CRT-based TVs and computer displays.

Interesting. So if there were a way for the electrons to travel easily through space without it being a vacuum (plasma?) and enough electrical/magnetic energy was applied of the right magnitude and direction could you use this concept to make a lightning gun of sorts or is that completely out of the question?
 
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