Re: dissectible capacitor

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@SFU.CA>]

> Assuming we have an ideal parallel-plate capacitor, the potential
> difference goes through the roof as you separate the plates, but the
> electric field does not. So I'm not sure a corona discharge must
> occur.

Does the dissectable capacitor effect occur in the parallel plate
capacitor? Bill's mechanism sounds very plausible to me, and I've
only performed the demo with a cylindrical capacitor.

I made my own variant of the Cenco version of this demo by putting
in a thicker glass cylinder than the one supplied. Mine is about
as much glass as one can get in the gap. It gives a much better
zap than the off-the-shelf version, and both electrodes come off
with more difficulty due to the necessity for air pressure
equalization.

Leigh