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From: robertcr@tektronix.UUCP (Robert Cram )
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Dean Drive Possible?
Message-ID: <1932@tektronix.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 16-Mar-84 04:49:59 EST
Article-I.D.: tektroni.1932
Posted: Fri Mar 16 04:49:59 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Mar-84 03:53:24 EST
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 11

I was just reading an article about the Dean Drive.  The supposed
space drive that defies conservation laws.  The article (Analog 6/76)
suggest that Newton's 2nd Law has an additional term in it for the
third derivative.  According to the article, there is a "critical
action time" during which a system is non-Newtonian and "cannot  accept
energy".  By playing around with this, one can supposedly levitate
without using reaction mass.  This seems far fetched to me, but
is there sound theoretical or experimental work that flatly says
that there can be no non-zero coefficent  of the third derivative?
Is there an upper limit on its value?