OK so you have built a large
Van de Graaff Generator
now you want to take it a step further and up the spark current.
A good way to do that is to use a leyden jar and build up a large charge in it and watch the powerful sparks fly.
This Leyden jar is made from a 5 gallon bucket and stores enough electricity to kill you.
I strongly recommend building a smaller one unless you know what your doing.
The leyden jar is a very old design dating back to the late 1700's
Its simply put a high voltage high capacity capacitor.
Built properly and treated like a loaded gun you too can make your own miniature lightning bolts.
Trust me when i tell you that a discharge from this device is loud enough to damage your hearing so wear hearing protection.
I have experimented with high voltage for many years this is one of the more dangerous projects I have completed so please be careful. I accept no responsibility for your injury or death.
Have fun and please be safe,
Zachary M.
Next up parts list.
Van de Graaff Generator
now you want to take it a step further and up the spark current.
A good way to do that is to use a leyden jar and build up a large charge in it and watch the powerful sparks fly.
This Leyden jar is made from a 5 gallon bucket and stores enough electricity to kill you.
I strongly recommend building a smaller one unless you know what your doing.
The leyden jar is a very old design dating back to the late 1700's
Its simply put a high voltage high capacity capacitor.
Built properly and treated like a loaded gun you too can make your own miniature lightning bolts.
Trust me when i tell you that a discharge from this device is loud enough to damage your hearing so wear hearing protection.
I have experimented with high voltage for many years this is one of the more dangerous projects I have completed so please be careful. I accept no responsibility for your injury or death.
Have fun and please be safe,
Zachary M.
Next up parts list.
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Signing UpStep 1: Parts and tools needed
Parts:
5 gallon plastic bucket
Roll of aluminum foil
copper pipe 1/2" diameter or larger
small piece of copper sheet
round door knob
spray glue (i used contact cement)
Tools:
Drill with bits
torch
solder
flux
pliers
masking tape
5 gallon plastic bucket
Roll of aluminum foil
copper pipe 1/2" diameter or larger
small piece of copper sheet
round door knob
spray glue (i used contact cement)
Tools:
Drill with bits
torch
solder
flux
pliers
masking tape
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Pfarmkid
Good luck :)
The foil on the capacitor holds up until I start drawing arcs.
If I could solder the wires to the foil it would probably work, but I would have to do that before the foil is attached to the bucket so it doesn't melt.
I still plan on making a 20KV full wave rectifier from 80 1N4007 diodes though. It's a lot cheaper than buying high voltage diodes.
I suggest you try with a flyback transformer since it already has rectified output (HV diode). I did this with mazzily oscillator and jar capacitors.
It might work with the 1n4007, but remember to submerge them is oil, otherwise it will arc on the outside.
I understand how you are demonstrating the effect of your "Leyden Jar of Doom" but to make a spark, wouldn't it be simpler to just connect a grounded metal electrode close enough to the VDG so the VDG would discharge directly to the electrode, instead of using the leyden jar as a "middleman"?
However, if you wish to discharge the jar LATER, then I see why this is effective.
Thanks
I plan to build my own hand-cranked VDG this weekend :)
Yes, surface area is a factor but just one. Time and source voltage are the others.
Any time you're dealing with a capacitor you can think of it as working by stacking a bunch of electrons up on the plate connected to the source (in this case the VDG).
The more electrons you can get back out during the discharge the more current you'll have. Working toward this goal are . . .
1. The more surface area on the plate, the more electrons you can stack up.
2. The higher the voltage applied, the faster you can stack electrons and . . .
3. the longer you let them accumulate, the more electrons (potential current) you'll have stored - up to the maximum saturation of the plate.
Other factors are involved like the thickness of dielectric between the plates (inner and outer foil in this example) and how well that dielectric resists letting the electrons cross the gap but those are the main three that determine what current you're going to get out at the end.
VDGs and other electrostatic generators are mostly harmless because even though they can generate extremely high voltages the electrons trickle off continuously and don't "bunch up". In this monster, a LOT of electrons bunch up and when discharged over a fraction of a second deliver that bunch of electrons as seriously high current. I would like to see some numbers on this.
Thanks Kholt42
i'll better stay away from build somthing like this.
maybe i make a small one
I have never had much luck with glass jars myself.
About American power: Some call it 110v, others 120v, still others 115v or 117v AC 60 Hz (cycle) except for those places that might have 25Hz (Keokuck, Iowa and Ford Motor Company factories did) and those places where DC was optionally available (New York City until Con Edison shut down its DC service).
Lightning can cause the magnetic induction of a curent into a conductor. Some years back, I was walking near an unenergized power line undergoing renovation as a thunderstorm approached. I saw a flash of lightening and heard the 'Snap' of a large spark, and then a couple of seconds later heard the 'Crack' of thunder. This may be what some of the secondary lightening strikes are.
Made him look like the fool, and my floor manager looked at me, leans over and says, don't let me catch you using that as a weapon in here. I smiled, and said, party pooper! I can't wake up the dead anymore?
but i guess sometimes it's ok to get away from the norm and do somethin different (like touching the end stupidly)