I thought it conveyed the information well, but what I was probably thinking was "yes, I have".

With such a provocative topic, it can be difficult to extract the realities between the more entertaining extremes of delusional crackpots and pedantic prudes.
Gravity, Impartiality & the Media

I bet you're hoping that's a propos of something or other.

The Em drive featured twice, first on an (airbed?) linear track and then a larger version on a turntable.

Good Horizon programme.

Al did not enjoy this show, even.

And now, for humanity's next trick, we present The Nassikas Propellantless Thruster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTLkZ0jms3s

As many here understand, any such device has the ability to produce unlimited amounts of free energy, and is therefore impossible. I've written down all the algebra necessary to understand this in several other posts, so won't repeat all that, neat though it be.

This new incarnation is basically an EmDrive in a superconducting context. It purports to push itself against nothing using "residual Lorentz force" and/or "unbalanced Meissner effect forces". Like the EmDrive, it employs a conical or tapered geometry.

The force does however appear to be real, as witnessed by the pendulum test. The null test is of interest. The question is - what experimental artifact are we seeing here?

Is there sufficient torque from the earth's magnetic field, possibly? That's my prime candidate. Making it a glorified compass needle.

Yes, Paul LaViolette is a fully paid-up Crackpot of the first water. Nevertheless, he's only acting as a middle man for Nassikas in this case. So ignore that wanker and focus on Nassikas's science, or lack thereof.

http://etheric.com/nassikas-thruster-II/
quite clearly explains the idea. When DC current flows through a coil wound on a conical former, we are told that a net Lorentz force is generated, which is the key idea behind this particular piece of propellantless woo. It cannot be true. The details of exactly why it can't work, based on Maxwell's equations, is something I have not yet attempted. I am however in defensive mode, because there is a similar peculiarity regarding the mutual forces between two current-carrying conductors placed at an angle to one another. Typically this situation gives rise to umpteen arguments about the "true Ampere Law", mentions of Heaviside and Tesla, and fuck nose what else.

This is something that an amateur experimenter can try. A superconductor is probably not a prerequisite. Thick wire and high currents will suffice, most likely, to show that a conical coil cannot generate a net translational force (as opposed to a net torque, which obviously it can in a nonzero ambient magnetic field).

Sounds like Nobel laureate and public whackadoodle Brian Josephson has once again smashed a cream pie into his own face, which he tends to do on a regular basis. Brains are funny things, Virginia.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1507.02897v1
Relativistic Engine Based on a Permanent Magnet

Wait for it....wait for it....

;-)

Posted By: Andrew PalfreymanIt cannot be true. The details of exactly why it can't work, based on Maxwell's equations, is something I have not yet attempted.

This has been worked out long ago. IIRC, Al gave a link, but I can't find any useful ones right now. Short answer is you are right.

Pulses can work, as they can throw off photons, but then you have a photon rocket, with all the miniscule forces that that implies.