Be a Scientist: Build an Electrostatic Motor

Step 4 Making the Connections.

Cut two pieces of wire. They need to be long enough to reach your source of static electricity and your earth connection. If you are using balloons to generate the static, give enough clear air between the balloon end of the wire and the motor to prevent draughts from the balloon knocking the cup off its perch.

Position the wires so they stand each side of the cup. They should be about 1cm from the cup (they MUST NOT touch the rotor), pointing at the cup. Fasten the wire in place (how you do this depends on the nature of your base - blobs of blu-tac, drawing-pins, sticky tape, it does not really matter).

Your motor is now finished.

Comments

[magicmike5462]

where do i connect the earth to

[Kiteman]

See Step 5 - any bare metal that is connected to the ground.  Plumbing is good.

[thierrywalt]

Hi! How could I connect this generator (http://www.instructables.com/id/Kelvin_s-Thunderstorm---Create-lightning-from-wate/) to this motor? Could you give more details on how to connect it to a TV, like how long it should be on before connecting?

Thanks!

[Kiteman]

For the thunderstorm, connect one side of the spark-gap to each side of the motor.

Fot the TV, connect the foil to the motor, switch on the TV, then brush the foil against the screen.  Switch the Screen off, then brush the foil against it again, almost straight away each time.

(That won't work on an LCD or plasma screen)

[impedance214]

is there a need of magnet?/

[Kiteman]

None whatsoever.

[robo_bob]

can you use likea 9 volt

[Kiteman]

No, you need high voltage - hundreds, preferably thousands.

[JOEDUPONT]

have you added plates to the wires and put the up close to the spinning device?

[Kiteman]

No, they're just bare wires pointing at the foil on the cup - static charge jumps best from points than plates.

[chriskarr]

Any electricity does for that matter. It's quite perturbing when making Tesla coils, because all of the high-voltage electricity shoots off into the air from any imperfection in your secondary coil or your top load.