A Test for the Existence of Mach Effects with a Rotary Device

Owing to the variation in the results of several experiments designed to produce thrust with devices employing Mach effects, it was decided to design an experiment with the simple purpose of determining whether or not Mach effects actually exist, and if they can be produced when the ''bulk'' acceleration and internal energy changes required to produce them are separately supplied. In the experiment arrays of eight 500 pf high voltage capacitors are mounted on the end of a rotor and spun to and from speeds of about 60 Hz (3600 rpm) while they are excited with a 40 KHz voltage signal with amplitudes up to 6 KV. The capacitors are sandwiched between two accelerometers and any Mach effect mass fluctuation is detected as a weight fluctuation that produces signals in the accelerometers that are antiphase. Those signals are subtracted with a differential instrumentation amplifier that suppresses other signals as common mode noise. Signals with the properties sought have been found and recorded with video equipment. They suggest that Mach effects are real, and that the bulk accelerations and internal energy changes that produce them can in fact be separately supplied.