I think that gliders generally do not have any engines. Reasonable thrust plasma engines are very complex devices and only big companies/institutions like NASA can afford research over them. I cannot imagine putting so much resources and effort to put such engine into glider.
not really, it uses the same tech but air is the propelant. Imagine a ram jet, but instead of burning fuel, Ionize the air and accellerate it out the back and nutralise the ions with electrons.
Sorry that video is blocked to the UK for copywrite reasons. Ion rocket engines have to be on for 100s if not 1000s of hours, they carry their own fuel. the engine I envisage is air breathing and air exhaust.
what I would like is for someone to tell me that a plasma could be made in air in a tube and then pushed out with a magnetic field. I know plasma exhausts are very fast, but I was thinking that the ions would collide with other air atoms and set them in motion at the same time slowing the ions down to maybe 200mph. So although Ion and plasma engines are low thrust devices, by opperating them in the air in a tube each ion would push upto around 100 to 150 atoms of air, that doesn't sound much but when you get a million or so ions, all doing this energy exchange, you end up with a lot of thrust at a lower energy level. hopefuly at 200mph or so.
I don't get ion-pushing-air atoms part. Ion engine is just a very efficient engine. It works because of Newton's 2rd and 3rd laws just like similar combustion engines. There's no pushing, just preservation of momentum. There's no point of using ion engines in atmosfere since they cannot generate enough thrust to overcome movement air resistance.
Hi Maciej Kucia. Ok so you don't get the ion pushing air atoms part. Imagine a pool table, the white ball is an ion and all the other balls are the air atoms, now the pool que is the magetic force that makes the ion move. so it drives the white ball (ion) into the other balls (air atoms), Does the white ball stop or does it move the other balls, if you've played pool you'll know that the balls move and the white might stop or deflect of into other air atoms. While the ion is in the magnetic field it will keep trying to move along its lines of force, and so the air is moved, but not as fast as the ions do.
So basically what you are saying is: ions and air molecules are both within magnetic field and due to viscosity air molecules are being moved by ions. I am not engine engineer but I doubt that there are ion engines where air can enter magnetic field. And even if there is an air why do not lionize it and accelerate too! Actually I can imagine such engine but it would require tens if not hundredths of kilowat power.
