Скачать или смотреть 3M’s Real-Life “Force Field”

In August 1980, workers in a 3M polypropylene film plant in South Carolina encountered a bizarre phenomenon: under a high-speed loop of charged plastic film, an invisible barrier formed that blocked people from walking through it.

When a 3M electrostatics specialist, David Swenson, approached the area with a handheld electrometer, it spiked to 200 kV/ft. His hair stood on end, and as he tried to walk under the charged film, he hit an invisible wall—a static barrier so strong that he could only retreat backward.

The workers managed to recreate the phenomenon under similar conditions: high humidity, fast-moving charged film forming a “tent”—about 20 ft square—in the workspace. One joked they didn’t know whether to “fix it or sell tickets”.

Engineers later grounded the equipment, and the wall vanished. Despite the interest—including from the Department of Defense—it has never been reproduced.