Don't worry, it's just ESD! (Electrostatic Discharge) has been added as a related post - related requested by chingalera on that post.

To put it simply, it's just a giant capacitor.

>> ^Trancecoach:

an electrostatic leader is formed by the change in pressure in the atmosphere caused by a thundercloud moving over the surface of the earth, setting the charges on the base of the cloud and the surface of the earth equal but opposite. A channel of ionized air starts from the negatively charged region in the cloud, mixes with water and ice. the initial bipolar discharge, called a leader, generates the stepped leaders which result in the familiarly branched or zigzag path of least resistance as the electrostatic imbalance is returned to zero by the return stroke of lightening.
>> ^Payback:
FFFFFFFFuuuuuuuucccccccckkkkkkkkiiiiiiiinnnnnnnngggggggg lllllllliiiiiiiigggggggghhhhhhhhttttttttnnnnnnnniiiiiiiinnnnnnnngggggggg, hhhhhhhhoooooooowwwwwwww ddddddddooooooooeeeeeeeessssssss iiiiiiiitttttttt wwwwwwwwoooooooorrrrrrrrkkkkkkkk?

an electrostatic leader is formed by the change in pressure in the atmosphere caused by a thundercloud moving over the surface of the earth, setting the charges on the base of the cloud and the surface of the earth equal but opposite. A channel of ionized air starts from the negatively charged region in the cloud, mixes with water and ice. the initial bipolar discharge, called a leader, generates the stepped leaders which result in the familiarly branched or zigzag path of least resistance as the electrostatic imbalance is returned to zero by the return stroke of lightening.

>> ^Payback:

FFFFFFFFuuuuuuuucccccccckkkkkkkkiiiiiiiinnnnnnnngggggggg lllllllliiiiiiiigggggggghhhhhhhhttttttttnnnnnnnniiiiiiiinnnnnnnngggggggg, hhhhhhhhoooooooowwwwwwww ddddddddooooooooeeeeeeeessssssss iiiiiiiitttttttt wwwwwwwwoooooooorrrrrrrrkkkkkkkk?

Guage theory and virtual particles are a bit too complicated to explain to a layman. They didn't even mention them when I took intro quantum mechanics in college. Virtual particles explain how photons carry electrostatic attractions and repulsions without violating the law of conservation of energy.

A gecko foot!

Each toe is covered with tiny micrometer “satae”, which branch off into even smaller “spatulae” thinner than the wavelength of visible light. Spatulae stick to walls by van der Waals forces - the weak electrostatic attractions between adjacent atoms or molecules that arise from fluctuations in the positions of their electrons. If these forces act over a relatively large area, they can build up a significant attractive force.

http://physicsworld.com/blog/2009/08/do_geckos_always_have_sticky_f.html

Good news everyone:

December 16, 2008
Verdict Positive for Inertial Electrostatic Fusion

http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/12/verdict-positive-for-inertial.html

Every atom has a tiny tiny charge associated with it.

Actually, over 99.9% of the water particles in a bucket at 20,000 volts have a neutral net charge, because charge is quantized. If every water particle had an extra electron, it couldn't even condense to form a liquid.

flux effect of charged particles (ie. an EM field)

An electrical potential gradient is a more specific term for the kind of EM field present in this problem. The magnetic component is negligible.


Once the charge is large enough, the random distribution of the charge within the system is what creates the diffusion of the water dropping through the buckets.

You mean the positively charged water molecules repel other positively charged water molecules, etc.


Its basically a van-de-graffe machine, only in a really novel way.

A Van De Graaff machine is based entirely on surface friction, while this is based on electrostatic induction.

Zero kinetic / gravitational potential energy is converted, the meer useage of gravity is a neat way to get the water droplets to pass through the rings, but none of this energy is converted into electrostatic energy.

Even the site you linked contradicts you and agrees with me on this count. The energy for the sparks comes from the gravitational potential of the water in the source, since gravity does work to pull the positively charged water away from the negatively charged bucket and towards the positively charged bucket, etc.

Why did you downvote my comment ?
This has nothing to do with gravitational potential energy at all, its purely the interaction between positive and negatively charged water particles passing through a conductor to build up charge.

Zero kinetic / gravitational potential energy is converted, the meer useage of gravity is a neat way to get the water droplets to pass through the rings, but none of this energy is converted into electrostatic energy.


Edit: A more detailed description can be found here.
http://amasci.com/emotor/kelvin.html

This is important. It's long, but it's important. If you have the time to listen to Dr. Robert Bussard you will be convinced about clean, cheap power. It's available and it's now. We can do this.

Here's the back-story from Google's page:

Google Tech Talks November 9, 2006

ABSTRACT This is not your father's fusion reactor! Forget everything you know about conventional ... all » thinking on nuclear fusion: high-temperature plasmas, steam turbines, neutron radiation and even nuclear waste are a thing of the past. Goodbye thermonuclear fusion; hello inertial electrostatic confinement fusion (IEC), an old idea that's been made new. While the international community debates the fate of the politically-turmoiled $12 billion ITER (an experimental thermonuclear reactor), simple IEC reactors are being built as high-school science fair projects.

Dr. Robert Bussard, former Asst. Director of the Atomic Energy Commission and founder of Energy Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC2), has spent 17 years perfecting IEC, a fusion process that converts hydrogen and boron directly into electricity producing helium as the only waste product. Most of this work was funded by the Department of Defense, the details of which have been under seal... until now.

Dr. Bussard will discuss his recent results and details of this potentially world-altering technology, whose conception dates back as far as 1924, and even includes a reactor design by Philo T. Farnsworth (inventor of the scanning television).

Can a 100 MW fusion reactor be built for less than Google's annual electricity bill? Come see what's possible when you think outside the thermonuclear box and ignore the herd.