Leyden jar of DOOM!

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.

Step 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

Comments

[Pfarmkid]

Finally, Made on

Pfarmkid

[rocketman221]

I just decided to connect one to a 12kv 60mA neon transformer (no rectifier) and the arcs are deafening. But after a few seconds the aluminum foil around my connections was vaporized. So for high current I would suggest using sheet metal instead of foil.

[ivalentin]

Your problem isn't because of the high voltage, the aluminum foil was vaporized because you have used unrectified current and there is no way you can charge a capacitor with that since the pollarity is periodically changing, it will arc inside the capacitor and melt the connections. You have to use high voltage DC current.
Good luck :)

[rocketman221]

A rectifier would be helpful, but the capacitor is still charged in within a half cycle of the ac waveform, much like the tank capacitor in a spark gap tesla coil.
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.

[ivalentin]

At high frequency the wavelenght is shorter than the normal AC (50-60 Hz), also the corona is formed by the nasty spikes, that's why the current goes through the dielectric and destroy the capacitor plates.
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.

[joehudy]

also how maney amps do you get when it dischargis? becous you know its the amps that kill

[joehudy]

y is it that im the only one that every time i try to make a vdg i fail its sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo frusterating

[dragonsniper]

will it hurt if you touch it?

[nickademuss]

Nope it will kill you, quite dead, no pulse, to the morgue you go....

[best_brothers]

really!?!?!?!

[nickademuss]

yes, seriously, dead D-E-A-D

[Epic_Canadian]

I have a simple question regarding the point of making sparks with your VDG.

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

[nickademuss]

Yes you can make sparks that way, with just the VDG, but the Jar of doom gives more surface area than just the sphere and in turn lets you build a higher current, and give you a stronger more powerful spark. A spark that can kill instantly. The sparks from the VDG are harmless unless you have a pacemaker. The sparks stored in the Jar is deadly.

[Epic_Canadian]

So surface area = more current? I would kind of think that it might be less, as there's more resistance, but that's with my basic knowledge? Can you please explain why there would be more current?

I plan to build my own hand-cranked VDG this weekend :)

[kholt42]

I know it was a couple of months ago but it looks like you didn't get an answer and it's an interesting question:
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.

[nickademuss]

Good answer, I have been away for some time, to many websites to maintain!
Thanks Kholt42

[h0meIandsecurity]

what is galloon, is that same as liter, WHAT IS GALLOON CAN SOMEONE FIND DEFINITION FOR THAT? ON INTERNET?

[nickademuss]

1 liters = 0.264172052 US gallons

[xeon_hl2]

i've dealed with high voltages, but this
i'll better stay away from build somthing like this.
maybe i make a small one

[Goodhart]

Question:   the Dielectric dispersion of glass is pretty poor, is the plastic of this type a lot better for "holding a charge" ?   

I have never had much luck with glass jars myself.

[nickademuss]

Glass works well for me, but plastic seemed to be better, maybe it was just the ease it was built ...

[geoslim13]

yes it is and to save on foil and get more capacitense i recomend using salt water lyden jar

[Goodhart]

I tried an oil once that "supposedly" had a high dieletric constant,  but apparantly the glass jar I used was too permeable.

[Johenix]

OKAY, who will be the first to make a 55 gallon plastic barrel into a Leyden jar?

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. 

[Plasmana]

Wow, that is a very nicely built leyden jar! Thank you for posting that, you have given me better ideas on leyden jar construction, 5 stars!

[nickademuss]

Thanks! be very careful !!!

[extrordinary1]

Yes it is very nicely built. I worked at a plastics plant making bottles. We had a problem with the guys who recycled our used plastic we recycled back into the grinder machine. Nobody wanted to do the job, very strong charges built up in our half barrel 55 gallon drum that caught the hot plastic tails when the machine opened up and dumped the hot tails on the conveyer belt and dump into that barrel. Also, the 1000 pd. box of virgin plastic headed for the hopper would capacitate a nice charge too, but not as strong. It will throw a 6 inch spark easily. I got in trouble for wakin a dude up rudely lightin his rump up for goin to sleep on the job. I only got hit once by the big barrels when I took the job. About a 2 ft. arc hit me. My floor manager got hit with a bigger one and not all of the charge got past his tennis shoes to the ground. His feet felt like they were on fire he said. I told him not all of the charge penetrated your shoes. He asked, what do I do now? I said stay away from the machines, go to the bathroom and turn on the cold water. The entire plant heard him yell when what didn't get though his shoes arcs at the water line. Someone asked our electrical engineer what we can do about this problem, he said we can't do anything about it. I said BS, went out to my car, got some stranded 1 inch dia. aluminum wire I recycle, took about a 4ft piece, went to the shop, ground a point on one end, added more insulation to grasp, frayed the other end and added a pie pan to that end. Went back out and the big boss was still there, the engineer, drunk as usual, I stuck the contraption into the barrel and through a 2 ft arc at the machine. I looked at the engineer and BS we can't do anything about it, static energy 101 buddy!
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?

[nickademuss]

NIce

[Frogzard101]

cool story bro

[Pie Ninja]

I wish my stories were half as awesome as yours.

[nickademuss]

neet story thanks!

[Plasmana]

Yes, I will... I have experiences in high voltage.

[ReCreate]

Ii have a little experience...i just don't like the loud spark that comes with it. Even just discharging little tiny camera flash caps freak me out

[geoslim13]

who dosent lik the smell of ozone an the crack of a high voltage ark.

[Electronics111]

Same here.

[ReCreate]

That is why i use lightbulbs in series to discharge my caps. <_-(that is supposed to be a wink)

[beehard44]

well, a wink is like this:   ;-)
but i guess sometimes it's ok to get away from the norm and do somethin different (like touching the end stupidly)

[Goodhart]

I have a little experience with HV too, unfortunately for me, mine were not pleasant experiences :-)

[Plasmana]

Mine were not pleasant experiences.

What? You mean the high voltage sparks keeps biting you?

[Goodhart]

Actually, except for one experience with my VW bug (30 years or more ago) and the Coil, I have been fairly careful with SUPER high voltages, but I did mark up my arm a bit laying it across two 220 v lines once. That was nasty.