Re: starship-design: Stellar drive?

[T.L.G.vanderLinden@student.utwente.nl (Timothy van der Linden)]

L. Parker wrote:

>Well, I don't suppose it would be fair if I didn't at least offer an idea
>for a solution. I haven't ever heard of a Faraday cage, and I am not sure
>if it works or how strong of a field it would have to generate in order to
>work, but how about if your second field was the shield also? Shaped kind
>of like this:
>                             \
>                      O     |
>                            /
>
>Just a thought...

A Faraday cage is a passive thing, it does not generate a field, it converts
the EM-radiation into an electrical current.
It is not a complicated thing, it is merely a wiremesh in the form of a cage
(round, square) it's shape does not matter much, as long as it is closed.
The general theory is that as soon as a difference in fieldstrength is
present between two points of the cage, the electric current will resolve that.
The size of the mesh is important, the smaller the mesh size, the better it
protects against high frequencies.

By the way, why do we need alternating magnetic fields, or are constant
magnetic fields possible too?

Timothy