Re: Van de Graaff

[Dave Simmons <SMTC45@UOFT02.UTOLEDO.EDU>]

> I am about to do the Van de Graaff generator demo.  I have tried it before
> with some smaller devices and I did not have much success.  Now I have a
> generator with a rather large sphere. A student of mine told me that it
> works better when one has hair jelly on his/her hair.  Is it true?

If the aim is to get the person's hair to stand up, then no, this is 
entirely incorrect. Choose someone with fine, clean hair of medium 
length.

  How
> about the length of time a person needs to wait in order to get discharged.
> (!!)  Would shoes with rubber soles provide enough insulation? 

Again if you mean "charged" enough to make the hair stand up, it 
should take only a few seconds. I will often 'charge' and 'discharge' 
the person a few times. Have the subject shake his/her head.

Rubber shoes are not enough in my experience. I use a wooden platform 
mounted on plastic legs about 2 inches long. Make the board bigger 
than the shoe size.

I just did this a few weeks ago and in my judgement the humidity of 
the room is one of the most important factors. I had great success one 
morning but by my afternoon class the humidity was up and I got pretty 
disappointing results.

Dave

*   				St. John's Jesuit High School          *
*  	 David A. Simmons	      5901 Airport Highway             *
*   <smtc45@uoft02.utoledo.edu>  	Toledo OH 43615                *