Discoveries in space plasma may provide an explanation for a century-old mystery.



Sir William Armstrong, an English hydraulics engineer, first observed the floating water bridge in 1893. It defied explanation and was ignored until recently. Findings in space plasma that have renewed attention to plasma’s electrical properties, a matter which itself has been neglected for a century, may provide an explanation that has been sitting in plain sight all along.

A water bridge is simple to produce. Two containers of pure water are set an inch or less apart. An electrode is inserted into each one, and a high voltage is struck between them. In short order, a spinning tube of water will stretch across the gap in defiance of gravity.

While the phenomenon and its possible explanation are interesting (and may be pursued in the links), this writer will for a moment prescind from the science and comment instead on the century of neglect. (My apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his ancient mariner.)............................................