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Re: Magnitude of feet-scuffing voltage?



On Thu, 21 Jan 1999, Ludwik Kowalski wrote:

Just an idea. Consider a beam of light going through a set of crossed
polarizers. Nearly nothing is going through. A Kerr cell is placed
between the polarizers and the H.V. is applied. The amount of light
passing now depends on the d.o.p. One electrode of the cell is grounded,
the other is connected to the object whose potential is measured with
respect to the ground. The signal from the photocell will be proportional
to the E^2 in the region traversed by light. This is not a typical
application of the Kerr effect but it may work for what you want.
You have to calibrate the system with a power supply.

I was after a voltmeter, but your idea is VERY COOL. If a thin, wide,
electrode-less Kerr cell was constructed, it might directly display a sort
of 2D slice of the e-field surrounding any object which was held near it.
No oils or fibers! However, it probably would require a significant
thickness, so that the polarization rotation effect occurs at low values
of e-field. I wonder which material would have the strngest Kerr effect
at a particular volts/meter.


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