I have read the research paper on which those lifters are based: it can be found hereshould you be interested.

I am quite skeptical of the theoretical basis on which this system is purported to function. The article does NOT come from a peer reviewed journal, and therefore is untrustworthy. The article itself has some odd unprofessional qualities to it such as the presentation of raw data, something which is inappropriate to a formal research article, as this attempts to present itself. all that aside my main reservation comes from this bit:

"The finding of Prof.Biefeld and T.T.Brown, which is called Biefeld-Brown effect, suggests the coupling between electricity and gravitation. However this phenomenon can not be explained within the framework of the conventional physics. The author attempts to explain this phenomenon by introducing a new gravitational field generated by high potential electric field inside the atom."

In my opinion, they have far to little evidence to go around knocking accepted physical theory on it's ear. you need much more than two or three simple experiments before any reputable scientist would postulate such fantastic ideas.

On the other hand however, this "B-B" effect seems as though it is probably real, regardless of how preposterous the theory sounds. the experiments are simple. If I had a month or two to work on it I could easily replicate them myself.

I might of course be wrong, there have definitely been times in the recent history when accepted physical theory was challenged. A prime example of this is the failure of classical physics to explain certain things such as particle diffraction, the photoelectric effect, and black-body radiation. however these failures were many in number, and they came from many different sources. Certainly what this theory of the B-B effect proposes is not as radical as quantum mechanic was in it's day, but none the less, there is still far to little evidence.

Are we a bit confused about Ion drives vs. "B-B" devises? Ion drives do indeed carry xenon gas as the propellant, but they are MUCH more efficient than chemical rockets. Why? because they have a propellant velocity of ~30 km/s. Even though you are using a low density propellant, the increased speed of the exhaust more than makes up for it. However despite their high efficiency, ion drives cannot produce very much thrust, and so are limited to applications which do not require high acceleration.

It is unclear how the "B-B" devises function, and unknown as yet whether the operate in a vacuum or not.

I have nothing against you SumhObo, despite the condescending arrogant tone of this post. Ignorance is perfectly excusable, especially for a high-school student. what is not excusable is spreading your ignorance in the form of false accretions.

Sounds like that was a fun class Crono, but at the same time I laugh, I am enraged by the people who write that stuff. I don't think the author of the paper I quoted is quite in the same league as you are referring to. However, it is still quite dubious.

The same website did however, have a much more reputable (I haven't read all of it yet) paper purportedly done at army research center in MD. They offer as far as I have read, no idiotic claims of gravitational induction.