Action on charges by the vector potential

[F6FLT]

I open this thread to discuss general ideas for acting on charges through vector potential effects. I start with Smudge's proposal to use ions in an electrolyte:

... I think the opposite polarity ions moving through an electrolyte could offer something interesting if there is such an A field there.  I am not aware that anyone has studied this.  Note that a charged particle Q in an A field has electromagnetic momentum QA and its movement will be affected by any change of momentum hence change in A across the electrolyte.  Thus a battery may be there not as a power source but as a source of moving ions.  Plasma would be a better ion source for exotic effects as the velocities are much greater.

Smudge

To get the order of magnitude that we can expect from the effects of A on ions, I took the chlorine ion as a reference but the other ions, whether positive or negative, have close parameters and will give the same orders of magnitude. Its mobility is 7.92*10^-8 m²s^-1v^-1. With a field E of 10v/m in the electrolyte, we obtain a velocity v=mob*E= 7.92*10^-7 m/s, which is more than 10000 times weaker than an electron in a conductor. But its mass is larger, so what is its non-electromagnetic momentum?
The atomic mass of chlorine being 35.45, the mass of the ion will be equal to 35.45*1.66*10^-27=5.88*10^-26 Kg which is, as expected, about 10000 heavier than the electron.
The momentum m*v = 5.88*10^-26 * 7.92*10^-7 = 4.66*10^-32 kg m s^-1.

What is in comparison the electromagnetic momentum q.A ? With a field A of 1 v.s/m we obtain 1.6 * 10^-19 kg m s^-1. Therefore the mass-related momentum is completely negligible compared to the electromagnetic momentum. The fact of replacing electrons by ions does not change anything because in m.v the gain that one has with the masses of the ions higher than those of the electrons is compensated by their much weaker speed. The conservation of p=m.v+q.A implies that playing a little on q.A will change m.v enormously since q.A >> m.v. But m.v is so small that it will have no mechanical effect. I have the impression that the only mechanical effects remain the electrical forces exerted on the charges and transferred to the atoms of the medium at the time of their collisions, not by an effect of their momentum acquired by their speed.