[ExI] Chips The Size Of[interplanetary] Dust [and matrioshka brains]

[Amara Graps]

>As for station keeping, as the node size scales downward, gravity becomes
>less the driver and electrostatic forces ever more important.


At about 1 micron-sized particles, Lorenz force is a perturbing force
to gravity. At about 0.01 micron, the Lorentz begins to dominate depending
on the  circum-whatever environment. Don't forget about radiation pressure
force too, but RP not important for sizes of tens or hundreds of nanometers.
What kind of magnetic fields and plasmas do you think would be in the
vicinity?

Amara

-- 

Amara Graps, PhD      www.amara.com
Associate Research Scientist, Planetary Science Institute (PSI), Tucson
INAF Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI), Roma, Italia