What do I study in school for Lorentz Force Propulsion R&D?

[paul3337]

Hello I'm new to the forum and I want to go to school for the specific purpose of developing the education I need to have the ability to research and develop a very interesting theoretical propulsion subject I've sort of stumbled over on the internet.

I'm creating this post to ask the specific question, "What do I need to study in college in order for me to have the correct "foundation of knowledge" that is necessary to research and develop the science and technology of propulsion concepts that revolve around the Lorentz Force?

I know that the subject started off with someone trying to use the Lorentz Force to create an electric generator, and then later on down the road folks adapted it to create a form of propulsion called the caterpillar drive or MHD. Even a movie was made about it that involved a fictional submarine using it.

I've read that some think it might be used as a form of propulsion in space. I've also read that maybe this science/technology can be adapted to be used in atmosphere by ionizing atmosphere around a vehicle, then using intersecting electromagnetic fields to create lorentz force to manipulate the air in place of propellers or blades you'd find in a jet engine.

But as far as I know, these ideas only exist in scientific papers and maybe in labs.

I would love to dive deeper into this subject but this stuff feels so over my head that I can barely understand what I read when I find stuff to read about it.

Does anybody know what I should specifically study while in school so that this subject is no longer "over my head" and I can one day do my own research and development?

So far I know that I need to learn more about:
-electrical engineering
-the science of electricity
-electromagnetism
-anything that teaches about ionized plasma

Just making this post here in hopes that somebody on this website knows enough about this subject to give me advice on what I should study.

So far some key words I found that helps me find a lot of information on the subject on the internet are:
-Lorentz Force
-Lorentz Thrusters
-Magnetoplasamadynamic Thruster
-Found an engineering concept that might be related to this called the VASIMR engine
-Lorentz Force Accelerators (or LFA)
-Electrodeless Lorentz Force Thruster
- Something called an "Abraham-Lorentz thruster"
- Plasma AcceleratorsIn science fiction I noticed that on the Matrix Movies, you got these weird ugly flying ships that are using something that looks like lorentz thrusters but nothing explains what those things are. (it's the circular objects on the outside that looks like they have glowing ionized plasma on the outside of them).

I'm a scifi fan but in the context of this post I'm interested in real life science/engineering of this stuff not fiction. Sorry for the vagueness of this post I will be able to articulate this better as I continue to learn more about this subject. :)

 

[jambaugh]

Paul,
You should view what you see in movies and fiction with a great deal of skepticism. Very often technical terms in physics are borrowed in order to assist in suspension of disbelief for the "magic" used in the narrative as a plot device or premise.

The Lorenz force is an elementary aspect of electromagnetism. It is the force due to a magnetic field which will deflect the direction of motion for a charged particle. This in-and-of-itself will not create a thrust as it will not change the speed of the particle. It can, however be used as a lens or a nozzle in directing the flow of e.g. electrons in an electron microscope or of ions in an ion thruster.

The Lorentz force is also what is responsible for the workings of most electric motors in that the moving current in a wire will experience a force due to a magnetic field.

For an introduction I suggest you look at the OpenStax.org textbooks (free for the downloading and financed through academic grants). Start with their high school level physics text. Ch 20 covers magnetism including magnetic forces on charges and currents. You can then graduate to the undergraduate texts. Their University Physics, vol 2 covers electromagnetism in detail in Unit 2.

 

[Vanadium 50]

You should view what you see in movies and fiction with a great deal of skepticism.

This.

Further, the electric motor in the Toyota Prius, like all electric motors, relies on the Lorentz Force. We have Lorentz Force propulsion today. It's just not what you think it is.

 

[paul3337]

Paul,
You should view what you see in movies and fiction with a great deal of skepticism. Very often technical terms in physics are borrowed in order to assist in suspension of disbelief for the "magic" used in the narrative as a plot device or premise.

The Lorenz force is an elementary aspect of electromagnetism. It is the force due to a magnetic field which will deflect the direction of motion for a charged particle. This in-and-of-itself will not create a thrust as it will not change the speed of the particle. It can, however be used as a lens or a nozzle in directing the flow of e.g. electrons in an electron microscope or of ions in an ion thruster.

The Lorentz force is also what is responsible for the workings of most electric motors in that the moving current in a wire will experience a force due to a magnetic field.

For an introduction I suggest you look at the OpenStax.org textbooks (free for the downloading and financed through academic grants). Start with their high school level physics text. Ch 20 covers magnetism including magnetic forces on charges and currents. You can then graduate to the undergraduate texts. Their University Physics, vol 2 covers electromagnetism in detail in Unit 2.

I heard that there were places to download free college level quality textbooks on different subjects for those who want to use the power of the internet to develop a college level of education on various subjects for free, but I didn't know about openstax.org. I'm exploring the website now and it is amazing!

This is perfect for my educational needs. Right now I'm preparing to immigrate to Mexico, getting ready to take an online TESL course. I spent all of last year studying spanish and then in December switched from the self taught method to a spanish teacher over skype once a week. My plan is to be fluent in spanish and be a certified TESL teacher with a digital nomad TESL career when I immigrate to Mexico.

I'm hoping I can not have to work 50hrs/week to financially take care of myself because of the ratio of USD I need to make vs what I need to support myself and I plan on using the extra time I will have on my hands as a result to develop the education I always wanted to have in regards to physics, mechanical engineering, and mathematics. I don't need a degree, I just want the knowledge. I recently just spent 1 and 1/2 years using free blender tutorials on youtube to learn how to 3D model. I went from no skills to building a movie quality model of the 1960's enterprise using blueprints I found online for the 11foot studio model. The only money I spent on learning 3D modeling was custom building a desktop PC for 3D modeling. Blender was free.

 

[hutchphd]

Sometimes money spent on education is well worth the reduction in time required to reach competency. Unecessary time spent has an opportunity cost. It is most economical when someone can tell you immediately that you are wrong : mistaken notions must be discarded at almost any cost for effective learning. While it is very important to make errors, it is similarly vital not to repeat them.