One Man's Trick is Another's Man Magic
(are the magicians ever getting bored?)
(are the magicians ever getting bored?)
How do they work? It's the simplest thing in the world. There is one or more wires in front and some blades in the back or direction of air flow (Blades could have been wires as well but they have an increased surface to collect dust). All the electronics inside are a high voltage generator (tens of thousands of volts). Wires are charged with high voltage positively and blades negatively.
Airborne particles are first charged positively by the wires and then are attracted by the negatively charged blades. Charged particles also move the air that by inertia passes the blades and leaves the filter.
So what this has to do with weather control?
Few people ever heard or even remember of the Pacific Intertie. The only DC high voltage line in the world. It goes from Bonneville's Dam in Oregon all the way to California for over 1000 miles. Here in this picture next to a "regular" AC high voltage line.
I would assume the line on the downstream side would get some dust on it. Hard to say from this only closeup i could find but from the piece of wire visible on the right, i can tell there is a difference in reflection of the light (less shiny) which comes from left, that is east (side). It all depends on what direction it had been used since it rained last time.
In order to create the DC (from "regular" AC they create at Bonneville), they use huge high capacity mercury diodes made in Sweden.
Anybody can see where i'm getting already? It's easy. Those charged lines, one positively and the other negatively at millions volts will eventually to the same as those filters do. Move the air perpendicularly on the direction of the wires however over a one thousand miles. The probably didn't know what will happen, maybe the initial purpose was to bring more rain in the desert. Maybe they did, a little. Maybe they realized it has a curious effect on long distances or in the Willamette Valley. Who knows.
Anyways, another reason not to use DC for transport of electricity at high voltages over long distances (this is the only line in the world) could be too much energy wasted for moving the air and possibly interfering with... weather patterns.
Everybody saw the commercials for Ionic Breeze by Sharpe Image back in the day. If they didn't buy one. I went once in the mall and was amazed by the way air was flowing out of those, with no fan. But over 400 dollars and i was also a bit paranoid about the ozone smell.
I own one of a different brand and i can telly they work, if not only by the amount of dust i collect weekly from the blades which surpasses several times whatever is captured in other types of filter. (However there's no filter good enough to filter what is falling on your hear directly from holes in the walls and cracks in the ceiling).
Sharper Image went bankrupt back in 2008. Don't know if the campaign against this type of products or something else. But their original idea survives to this day under a different brand.
But IonicPro are not the same quality (and price). I bought two of them and after a while they start working intermittently. Air will flow out of them 10 seconds and then will stop the next 5 and then another 10 seconds of working, etc.. They are excellent at something else though. You can analyze, almost in real time, what type of dust you have in your house. Visually, by smell, using a magnifying glass and why not, you can collect some dust from blades and watch it under a cheap microscope. Then you can figure the source and fix it. Most of the time it's black mold or litter dust, insulation dust or more rarely human flaking skin.
(I can't believe its June 13 and 55 degrees outside and the ice cream van came repeating that annoying song. How is this related with what i'm working? It's related and they brought it because they know what i'm writing).