Re: the Zapno (tm) anti-static device and dishonesty

["Eric T. Lane" <elane@CECASUN.UTC.EDU>]

  You can hold the NE-2 bulb by the glass to assure no shock.
  In fact, I have gotten shocked when holding the wire leads.
This is especially true when dealing with van de Graff generators
and other high voltage sources.
  But holding the bulb by the glass always prevents me from getting
shocked.
  For high voltage sources, I like to use a larger neon or argon bulb,
holding it by the glass and using it to point out the interesting
features of the demonstration. Saves those shocking experiences
one often gets when pointing with a finger.

Prof. Eric T. Lane  318 Grote Hall  423-425-4523  eric-lane@utc.edu
Physics Dept.2352, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, TN 37403

On Tue, 30 Jul 2002, William Beaty wrote:

> For outsiders who are reading this message, here are two simple
> experiments you can try.
>
>
> DISCHARGE YOUR BODY USING A RESISTOR
>
> For a few cents you can make a device to painlessly discharge the static
> buildup from your body every time you touch the device.  Go to Radio
> Shack, Tandy, or another electronic supply store and buy some 10 megohm
> resistors.  Take one resistor, bend one of its leads in an "L" shape, then
> tape that bent lead to a filing cabinet or metal door frame.  Tape it so
> the resistor itself juts out into space.  Now verify that you can charge
> yourself: if the humidity is low, try scuffing on the carpet and then
> touch the large metal object.  Do you feel a "zap?"  If so, then scuff on
> the carpet again, but this time touch the jutting wire of your resistor.
> No shock, right?  Now immediatly touch the large metal object (don't walk
> around on the carpet first!) and you'll feel no spark.  The resistor has
> discharged your body without giving you a painful shock.  "Static charge"
> on human bodies creates a high voltage with respect to ground; a voltage
> of several thousand volts (and rarely as high as 50KV.)  The resistor lets
> you discharge yourself while keeping the current less than a milliampere.
> Note again that in quantity, resistors cost a penny or two.
>
>
> FUN WITH A NEON LIGHT
>
> Here's another simple experiment.  Buy a package of NE-2 or NE-2H neon
> pilot lights at Radio Shack (etc.)  When humidity is low, bend the two
> wires of the bulb outwards, hold the bulb by one wire, then scuff across a
> carpet to charge up your body.  Touch the other wire to any large metal
> object and you'll see an orange flash.  Pretty cool, no?  Part of the
> spark-current goes through the neon gas.  While sparks in nitrogen are
> blue-white, sparks in neon are orange.  Now scuff on a carpet again, but
> this time use the neon bulb to zap your co-workers.
>
> Or try this:  get a friend, have them hold one wire of the lamp while you
> hold the other one, and then scuff one of your feet on the carpet.  The
> neon lamp will glow orange each time you drag your foot along.  You've
> made yourself into an electric generator which uses "contact
> electrification" between two insulating surfaces (between the carpet and
> your shoe soles.)   Try wearing other types of shoes, see if they make
> greater or lesser flashes.  Or boil away a few quarts of water in the
> room, then see if the humidity has affected the generator effect.
>
> Or this:  scuff across the carpet, hold one wire of the neon bulb, and
> bring the other wire close to a metal object while watching the bulb.  It
> glows even when you don't touch it against the metal!  This demonstrates
> "corona discharge" and electric current in the air.  There was a tiny
> corona discharge at the sharp tip of the wire, and a brief electric
> current appeared invisibly in the air between the wire and the metal
> object.
>
> Now tape one wire of the neon bulb to a metal mixing bowl and charge up a
> rubber balloon by rubbing it on hair.  Hold the other wire of the neon
> bulb, then move the balloon in and out of the metal bowl.  The bulb glows
> orange each time the balloon moves.  You can do this forever (or until the
> charge slowly leaks off the balloon.)  It's an electrical generator which
> converts the motion of the balloon into electromagnetic energy which
> lights up the neon bulb.
>
> Again, these tiny neon bulbs are available at most electronic supply shops
> for less than a dollar, and perhaps 5x less if bought in bulk.  Sometimes
> they have a resistor connected in series with one wire.  That's OK, since
> it won't affect the demonstrations I describe above.
>
>
> Hey, does anyone have other favorite "electrostatic" NE-2 demonstrations
> that can be performed without any lab equipment?
>
>
> (((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (O)    )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))
> William J. Beaty                            SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
> billb@eskimo.com                            http://amasci.com
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