Re: Jacob's Ladder

[brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>]

This is an interesting and provocative question.

I first ask if the Jacob's ladder demo is likely to be more emissive than say
a large neon sign, which uses an 8000+ volt 1+ milliamp transformer type.

I am handicapped by my ignorance of the particular spectral sensitivities
of typical pacemakers, but I would offer this opinion at the conjectural
level:

An electromagnetic hazard to a pacemaker may be covert or evident on the 
face of it. A hidden hazard which may suddenly turn on is certainly the more 
dangerous kind.

 Here the risk is somewhat evident to a person who may reasonably be expected
to be on the look out for em hazards.
 I fancy that a discreet warning sign of the kind carried by restaurants with 
microwaves might be suffucient. I would expect that a susceptible pacemaker 
would show a graduated response depending on its distance from the emission.
 This is clearly a desirable sort of response - if the devise must
malfunction 
at all.
 As to other hazards, there is a modest airborne pollution with metal
particles,
a modest uplift in ozone ( which is a severe bronchial irritant) and a modest
contribution of UV

Regards

Brian Whatcott

------------------------


At 12:54 8/14/97 -0700, you wrote:
> Dear Colleagues;
>
> We are planning to put a Jacob's Ladder in one of our public display 
> cabinets. Should we be concerned about the electromagnetic pulses causing 
> problems with pace makers, or any other health problems?
>
> Tim Usher
> Physics
> Cal. State U. San Bernardino
brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK