XPost: sci.electronics.design, sci.astro   
   From: pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net   
      
   On 2026-02-02 15:39, john larkin wrote:   
   > On Mon, 2 Feb 2026 14:23:33 -0500, Phil Hobbs   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 2026-02-02 12:49, John Hasler wrote:   
   >>> Jan Panteltje wrote:   
   >>>> So that makes me wonder if a spacecraft with just a permanent magnet   
   >>>> that you can moveto give you a force in the direction you want to   
   >>>> go...   
   >>>   
   >>> You can't control the direction of the force.  In any case the magnitude   
   >>> of the force would probably down there with the light pressure from   
   >>> stars lightyears away.   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >> And a dipole couples to the field gradient, not the field, so the effect   
   >> would be vanishing**2ly small.  (Or is that vanishing**3fly?)   
   >>   
   >> Cheers   
   >>   
   >> Phil Hobbs   
   >   
   > One could use no fuel to drive from Boston to SF if you take only the   
   > downhill roads.   
   >   
   >   
   > John Larkin   
   > Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center   
   > Lunatic Fringe Electronics   
   >   
      
   It could be downhill both ways if you lived at the school. ;)   
      
   Cheers   
      
   Phil Hobbs   
      
   --   
   Dr Philip C D Hobbs   
   Principal Consultant   
   ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics   
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)