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The Discovery of

Propellantless Propulsion

The Direct Conversion of Electrical Energy Into Physical Thrust

Dr. Charles Buhler

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The Exodus Propulsion Technology, Inc

Dr. Charles Buhler, PhD, Condensed Matter Physics: Lead scientist and co-founder of NASA’s Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory at Kennedy Space Center, a lab started in 1998. Received my Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from Florida State University in 2000 while working on high temperature superconductors at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Currently I serve as NASA’s subject matter expert in expert in Electrostatics and Lunar Dust Mitigation for the Artemis Program and am the Principal Investigator for two self-cleaning the Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) payloads going to the moon in 2024. Has studied propellantless propulsion as a hobby since the early 1990’s.

The Team consists of a mix of engineers and scientists from NASA, Blue Origin, Air Force, ExxonMobil as well as successful legal and businessmen.

Note: This presentation is not endorsed, nor does it reflect the views of NASA in any way. All images, data, graphics, etc are solely the property of Exodus Propulsion Technology alone.

marketing and financial plan for Exodus.

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The Meeting: After Initial Contact April 2016

1

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It has been known for a long time (1885 O. Heavyside and Poynting ) that fields possess momentum even at zero frequency. Such realizations have led several researchers to develop massless propulsion systems. Here the fields possess momentum which is to be imparted onto the system. All that is required is a finite E X B.

(left) Slepian’s space drive in 1949. (middle) Corum’s et al. dielectric linear motor 2001 and (right) Brito’s electromagnetic momentum generator (EMMG) 2003.

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Needle Thruster physics?

1

Faraday E-field

E-field

B-field

E-field

The Feynman Disk [28].

Coaxial cable model of Griffiths’ depiction of a system possessing linear field momentum (see page 356 of [30]).

The cross product of E X B produces a field momentum..

The change in current creates a Faraday electric field to oppose the change.

This new electric field acts on the static charges.

Momentum conservation follows as the loss of field momentum is converted into mechanical momentum.

The linear analogue does not product an impulse due to the onset of Hidden momentum inside the cable.

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Needle Thruster physics? (2016)

Faraday E-field

E-field

B-field

Faraday E-field

B-field

E-field

I

+

+ HV

Wire with Static charges on outside

+

High voltage needle creates static charges within a volume. Each discharges posses a B-field in the presences of an electric field

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Multi-Needle Thrusters

Multi- Needle thrusters

Pac Man Class thrusters – (corona wire thrusters)

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Wire-type Thrusters

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Wire-type (Pac Man Class) Thrusters

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Sharp Tube-type Thrusters

Mach Effect Thruster

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All was not well with the theory (early 2018)

In order to account for the forces observed experimentally, the current in each brush discharge (Trichelet discharges) had to be above an amp to generate the B-fields necessary to create the Faraday fields needed to generate the force.

Once we were able to measure the high voltage discharge waveforms, we had to rule out this theory of operation for the thrusters.

Forces due to Faraday’s Law

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Moving on…

The lack of a well-defined theory did not discourage further testing. Many ideas were proposed and were all soon discarded once disproven.

Until one day we got brave. It wasn’t quite clear to us that the discharges were responsible for the force, so we decided to immerse a sharpened tube into a block of Styrofoam. Now the ITO box is the ground but there’s no possibility of a discharge.

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New Discovery!

What we discovered was that the tube charged to 7 kV gave the system 60 μN of thrust above the noise.

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New Discovery!

This was immediately followed up by testing Fire glass which cannot form corona or any other discharge.

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Center of mass motion?

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Potential Energy

V

+1000 Volts

0 Volts

Energy = +qV

+1000 Volts

0 Volts

Equipotential lines

Electric Field lines

+q

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The purely Electric Field thrusters were born.

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This implies that an asymmetrical capacitor should experience a net force. In fact, forces on asymmetrical capacitors have been seen for over 100 years but do date no one has been able to explain why or how. Without an explanation, it has been impossible to quantify, reproduce or predict behavior in asymmetrical systems.

Until now..

HV

-

+

HV

-

+

Electrostatic

Pressure Force 1

Electrostatic Pressure

Force 2

>

Thrust

Electrostatic Pressure

Force 1

Electrostatic Pressure

Force 2

>

Thrust

Electrostatic Pressure Force

Thick Blades

Thin Blades

1

2

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Length

Spacing

Gap

Ratio of Length/spacing

Do not gain much by larger

Lengths/spacings

Easy to Simulate -

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What about the Needle?

Electric field is zero here

Electric field is unbalanced on this side

Net Force is to the right

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Off to the races!

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Off to the races!

Mighty Mouse

Brak

Multi-stack T-Blades

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Rotators

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Off to the races!

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Clearly can see the E^2 dependence

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Approximately 1 day per week was devoted for testing.

~ 3 TA’s per week were tested

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Proved no current was needed ! ! !
Showed the E² dependence on the Force.
No clear frequency dependence of the field on Force
Electric Field polarity did not matter.
Both the Electrostatic Pressure and the Divergence in E samples worked.
Showed the linear dependence on the Area.
Computational design were verified experimentally.

Patent was filed in 2019 released 8/13/2020: US 2020/0255167 A1.

Other work remained.

The magnitude of the force was much lower than the classical electrostatic theory predicted. About 10,000 times lower ???
No explanation for the linear term or the constant in the curve fits.
In some cases, the force would remain when the power turned off ???
Tests needed to be verified in high vacuum.
Test articles needed to be smaller and lighter.

The theory was nice but incomplete in 2019.

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In 2020 we were able to fabricate a custom high vacuum chamber at his hangar for testing.

From Jan 2021 through Sept 2021, 146 test articles were tested throughout their entire voltage range.

This jump to TRL 5 in vacuum resulted in better measurement techniques, complex electronics packages, automation and repeatability.

The Next Phase – High Vacuum Testing

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Vacuum Testing

Quantitative testing system is based on

Horizontal (gravity) pendulum

Digital force meter data collection

High vacuum environment

Ground shielding of all Test Articles

Compact form factor test articles

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Screenshot of Test Control Software ( Nominal Run )

4.462 means the Test Article was

generating 4460 uN of continuous

thrust against gravity as measured

by the load cell.

Current draw of the Test Article at this

time was ~ 0.065 uA at 3500 vdc for a

power draw of 228 micro watts.

Vacuum chamber pressure 1.38E-5 torr

Digital Data Acquisition System Documentation

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We were able to demonstrate a very simple method for creating the asymmetry by having a different dielectric on the surface of each plate. Different permittivities allow different electric fields (and hence pressure on different plates).

Voltage

Electric Field

Dielectric

Vacuum

Dielectric

Force

HV

Ground

HV

Another Breakthrough

Electric Field inside Dielectric is reduced on plate 1 (left)

Electric Field in vacuum higher on plate 2 (right)

HV

Ground

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The new revelation had several advantages:

Made testing asymmetrical capacitors much more reliable and lowered the complexity significantly.
Developed a “standard build” configuration using ground plates as the both ends.
Stacking resulted in greater generated force per unit volume.
We were able to try several material combinations quickly.

Continuous Improvement

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Strange Behavior

There were some strange observations:

The curve fits began to deviate away from a simple quadratic term.
Some samples kept producing forces with no added power.
Plates making contact made unusual forces.
High forces appeared without sparking or breakdown, indicating something else was at play.

It was time to take a hard look at the fields themselves…

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First pass: Quantum Mechanics Must play a role…

Original Electrostatic Pressure Component of the Force

Proposed change in the Electric field in terms of “Free” and “Bound” charges. Free charges pay a quantum price of alpha due to coupling of field to charge.

Alpha = 1/137 is the fine structure constant that quantifies the strength of the electromagnetic interaction and is well known to science.

All of the data has this generic binomial form (not just the E² term).
Magnitude is off and there’s no quantum effects accounted for.

This simple model gives the correct magnitude for the each of the three terms.
It allows for fields to exist in the “off” state due to trapped bound charges within the dielectric.
It has been experimentally confirmed that measurements of the bound field (E_B) from the 3^rd term, match the constant (2αE_B) on the 2^nd term!

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Free Charge and Bound Charge

Forces dominated by free charges

Forces (N) dominated by bound charges

Force (N)

Electric Field (V/m)

Verification

1^st term:

α² gives the correct magnitude

3^rd term:

Knowing the area, the constant gives the value of Q (which can also be measured).

2^nd term:

In all cases that value of Q times alpha matches coefficient of the middle term!

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Validations and Observations

The results have been verified by as least two outside groups to date that we know of (testing of heat sinks etc)
Explains the physics of what was seen by F. Becker and A. Bhatt (Cornell group) with dielectric layering.
Asymmetric Capacitor forces have observed for over 100 years T Thomas Brown
Can explain “Momentum Anomalies” that NASA has been unable to identify for over 50 years as satellites pass through the Van Allen Belts.
Can explain the EM Drive
Can explain the Mach Effect thruster
Can explain the Casimir Effect
Might explain gravity (dark matter, dark energy, etc…)
Dumb Humans

Damn humans made a black hole again!

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EM Drive

More Electrostatic Pressure here

Less Electrostatic Pressure

Force ~ factor * ε_o * E² * Area ~ 10^(-5 -11 +16 -4) = 10^-4 max

Force ~ 100 μN

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Woodward’s Mach Effect thruster

HV plates ~ 2kV

Ground Plates

Force ~ 1 – 10 μN based on geometry and field

Experimentally ~ 2 μN

Tajmar, M. Acta Astronautica 141 p 8-16 (2017)

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What about Bob?

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Not that Bob… this one.

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“gravity waves” might really be EM waves
Uses a wave guide to transfer energy from the reactor to the amplifier to the emitters
Force goes in the direction of the emitters

The design of Element 115 transmitter tells us the wavelength used.
Element 115 is thought to posses a very high melting point.
Alien spacecraft are made to be very lightweight? Why?
3 metal sandwich, isotopes

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Casimir Effect

L

d

x

y

z

Average value of field is zero

Average value of fluctuations is nonzero

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Casimir Effect

L

d

x

y

z

U. Mohideen and Nunshree Roy, Phys. Rev. Lett, 81 (1998) 4549

Energy/volume = Pressure both in units of Pascals

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Off to the races!

(Earth’s Gravity)

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References

1. Brevik, I., Comment on 'Electromagnetic Momentum in Static Fields and the Abraham-Minkowski Controversy'. Physics Letters, 1982. 88(A): p. 335-338.

2. Millis, M.G., Assessing Potential Propulsion Breakthroughs. NASA/TM-2005-213998, 2005.

3. Poynting, J.H., On the Transfer of Energy in the Electromagnetic Field. Phil. Trans., 1884. 175: p. 343-361.

4. Heaviside, O., On the Transmission of Energy through Wires by Electrical Current. The Electrician, 1885: p. 178.

5. Pugh, E.M., Poynting Vectors with Steady Currents. American Journal of Physics, 1970. 39: p. 837-838.

6. Pugh, E.M. and G.E. Pugh, Physical Significance of the Poynting Vector in Static Fields. American Journal of Physics, 1966. 35: p. 153-156.

7. Slepian, J., Discussion. Electrical Engineering, 1949: p. 245.

8. Slepian, J., Electromagnetic Space-Ship. Electrical Engineering, 1949: p. 145-146.

9. Corum, J.F., et al. The Electromagnetic Stress-Tensor as a Possible Space Drive Propulsion Concept. in 37th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE SPC. 2001. Salt Lake City, Utah.

10. Brito, H.H. Propellantless Propulsion by Electromagnetic Inertia Manipulation: Theory and Experiment. in Space Technology and Applications International Forum. 1999: The American Institute of Physics.

11. Brito, H.H. Experimental Status of Thrusting by Electromagnetic Inertia Manipulation. in 52nd International Astronautical Congress. 2001. Toulouse, France.

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12. Brito, H.H. and S.A. Elaskar. Direct Experimental Evidence of Electromagnetic Inertia Manipulation Thrusting. in AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit. 2003. Huntsville, AL.

13. Bulmer, J.S. and T. Lawrence, Interferometer examination of the time derivative of electromagnetic momentum created by independent fields and applications to space travel, in USAFA TR 2003-03. 2003, United States Air Force.

14. Shockley, W. and R.P. James, "Try Simplest Cases" Discovery of "Hidden Momentum" Forces on "Magnetic Currents". Physical Review Letters, 1967. 18(20): p. 876-879.

15. Aharonov, Y., P. Pearle, and L. Vaidman, Comment on "Proposed Aharonov-Casher effect: Another example of an Aharonov-Bohm effect arising from a classical lag". Physical Review A, 1987. 37(10): p. 4052-4055.

16. Lawson, A.C., Field angular momentum of an electric charge interacting with a magnetic dipole. American Journal of Physics, 1982. 50(10): p. 946-948.

17. Griffiths, D.J., Dipoles at rest. American Journal of Physics, 1992. 60(11): p. 979-987.

18. Haus, H.A. and P. Penfield, Force on a Current Loop. Physics Letters, 1968. 26A(9): p. 412-413.

19. Hnizdo, V., Conservation of linear and angular momentum and the interaction of a moving charge with a magnetic dipole. American Journal of Physics, 1991. 60(3): p. 242-246.

20. Comay, E., Exposing "hidden momentum". American Journal of Physics, 1996. 64(8): p. 1028-1034.

21. Hnizdo, V., Covariance of the total energy - momentum four-vector of a charge and current carrying macroscopic body. American Journal of Physics, 1997. 66(5): p. 414-418.

22. Hnizdo, V., Hidden momentum and the electromagnetic mass of a charge and current carrying body. American Journal of Physics, 1997. 65(1): p. 55-65.

References

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23. Hnizdo, V., Hidden momentum of a relativistic fluid carrying current in an external electric field. American Journal of Physics, 1997. 65(1): p. 92-94.

24. Hnizdo, V., Hidden mechanical momentum and the field momentum in stationary electromagnetic and gravitational systems. American Journal of Physics, 1997. 65(6): p. 515-518.

25. McDonald, K.T. Momentum in a DC Circuit. 2006 [cited; Available from: http://puhep1.princeton.edu/~mcdonald/examples/loop.pdf.

26. Hnizdo, V., Response to "Lorentz transformation of a system carrying "Hidden Momentum"" by E. Comay. American Journal of Physics, 2000. 68(11): p. 1014-1015.

27. Calkin, M.G., Linear Momentum of the Source of a Static Electromagnetic Field. American Journal of Physics, 1971. 39: p. 513-516.

28. Feynman, R., R.B. Leighton, and M. Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Vol. II. 1965, Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

29. Graham, M. and D.G. Lahoz, Observation of Static Electromagnetic Angular Momentum in Vacuo. Nature, 1980. 285: p. 154-155.

30. Griffiths, D.J., Introduction to Electrodynamics. Third ed. 1999, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

31. Buhler, C., Final Report: Analysis of a Lunar Base Electrostatic Radiation Shield Concept. 2005, NASA Institute for Advance Concepts CP 04-01.

32. Graneau, N., T. Phipps, and D. Roscoe, European Journal of Physics, 2001. 15: p. 87.

33. Sessler, G.M., Charge Distribution and Transport in Polymers. IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, 1997. 4(5): p. 614-628.

34. Canning, F.X., C. Melcher, and E. Winet, Asymmetrical Capacitors for Propulsion, NASA/CR-2004-213312, Editor. 2004.

35. Graneau, N., T. Phipps, and D. Roscoe, An experimental confirmation of longitudinal electrodynamics forces. The European Physical Journal D, 2001. 15: p. 87-97.

References

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Thank you!

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1

Thank you!

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But what about Forces staying on? How does that not disobey Energy Conservation??

The energy of our system is

The E²looks very reminiscent of the average value of a fluctuation of a field < E²>. According to quantum mechanics the fluctuations of the vacuum are not allowed to be zero. Thus, there’s always an energy in the vacuum with this form and thus U above cannot ever be zero.

Because we’re adding energy to our system (Work) of the same form factor as the vacuum energy, it may be that we’re interacting with it in a way which we don’t fully understand.

This may be a way to probe the vacuum to understand its structure and content. After all no one knows what an Electric Field actually is. We can generate it and manipulate it, but scientists do not have a fundamental understanding of what they actually are.

20

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What is Field Momentum?

z

R

a

b

l

+Q

-Q

I

φ

Consider a long solenoid of radius R, n turns per unit length, and current I. Inside the solenoid at radius a is a cylinder with charge +Q and outside the solenoid is a cylinder with radius b and charge -Q.

In the steady state, the angular field momentum inside the cylinders is found using

where

Poynting Vector

Once the current is turned off, the changing magnetic field induces a circumferential electric field in the φ direction given by Faraday’s law.

Leads to torques at a and b

and corresponding angular momentum at a and b

The angular momentum lost by the fields is precisely equal to the angular momentum gained by the cylinders and the total angular momentum fields plus matter is conserved.

Griffiths, D.J., Introduction to Electrodynamics. Third ed. 1999, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

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What about Linear Field Momentum?

Total Field Momentum

During the steady state, the field momentum inside the cylinders is found using

b

a

V

I

R

+z

l

I

A long coaxial cable of length l, consisting of an inner conductor of radius a and an outer conductor of radius b. A voltage V is applied between them at one end, and a resistor connecting the two cylinders is placed at the other end. There will be a charge per unit length +λ and steady current I to the right on the inner cylinder and a charge per unit length -λ and steady current I to the left on the outer one.

Now we turn up the resistance so the current decreases. The changing magnetic field will induce an electric field via Faraday’s law:

The field exerts a force on ±λ

The total momentum imparted onto the cable as the current drops from I to 0 is

Question: Does the cable recoil?

Griffiths, D.J., Introduction to Electrodynamics. Third ed. 1999, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

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Hidden Momentum

u

E

I

l

w

I

An example of a system consisting of hidden momentum is a loop of wire carrying a steady current that is modeled by a stream of noninteracting positive charges moving freely through the wire. When a uniform electric field is applied to the loop, the charges accelerate in the right segment and decelerate in the left one.

Only the momenta in the top and bottom portions of the loop need be considered, since the left and right segments cancel. If there are N_- charges in the top segment traveling at speed u_- to the left ( -z direction) and N₊ charges in the lower segment traveling slower at speed u₊ (in the +z direction), then the current (being the same in each loop so that the charge does not pile up) is given as:

so

Classically, the momentum of a single particle is p = Mu (where M is its mass), and the total momentum is

which is not zero since the particles in the upper segment are moving faster. Also the gain in energy (γMc²) as the particles travel up the right segment, is equal to the work done by the electric force QEw, where w is the height of the rectangle. Using Ew as the potential, the contribution due to relativistic effects yields an overall momentum in the z direction of

However relativistically;

Griffiths, D.J., Introduction to Electrodynamics. Third ed. 1999, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

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Discussion

The number of papers on field/hidden momentum has grown steadily over the past few years. Both Griffiths and Jackson include in their 3^rd editions but not their 2^nd .

Experiments have proven the existence of angular field momentum and its conversion into angular mechanical momentum by 1980 by Graham and Lahoz [1].

Hidden momentum was discovered by Shockley and James in 1967 [1] and has been heavily researched in the past 40 years. It has been used to recover momentum conservation for several cases, including the explanation of the Aharonov-Bohm effect [2] for the behavior of neutrons in the presence of static field and magnetic dipoles in the presence of electric fields [3-6] i.e. charged bar magnet.

Graham, M. and D.G. Lahoz, Observation of Static Electromagnetic Angular Momentum in Vacuo. Nature, 1980. 285: p. 154-155.
Shockley, W. and R.P. James, "Try Simplest Cases" Discovery of "Hidden Momentum" Forces on "Magnetic Currents". Physical Review Letters, 1967. 18(20): p. 876-879.
Aharonov, Y., P. Pearle, and L. Vaidman, Comment on "Proposed Aharonov-Casher effect: Another example of an Aharonov-Bohm effect arising from a classical lag". Physical Review A, 1987. 37(10): p. 4052-4055.
Lawson, A.C., Field angular momentum of an electric charge interacting with a magnetic dipole. American Journal of Physics, 1982. 50(10): p. 946-948.
Griffiths, D.J., Dipoles at rest. American Journal of Physics, 1992. 60(11): p. 979-987.
Haus, H.A. and P. Penfield, Force on a Current Loop. Physics Letters, 1968. 26A(9): p. 412-413.
Hnizdo, V., Conservation of linear and angular momentum and the interaction of a moving charge with a magnetic dipole. American Journal of Physics, 1991. 60(3): p. 242-246.

Question #2. Does every system that possess a linear field momentum contain a corresponding hidden momentum that exactly cancels it?