Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Wimshurst generator question



I certainly wouldn't do this with pacemaker users.

Sending the charge across the chest IS the easiest way to screw up
the heart beat.

I only do these things with 'volunteers' who have a good idea what to expect.

BUT - maybe we should keep one of these demos on hand for the
occasion when one of us more mature folks goes into fibrillation.

Hospital defibrillators deliver a few hundred joules.
Can a Leyden jar store this much?????

I make Leyden jars out of 2 liter soda bottles with aluminum foil
wrapped on the outside and a doorknob on top with a chain or wire
dipping into the water.

Our electrician didn't appreciate my asking him to unscrew the cap
from a charged one.

Some students BEG to touch one charged from a 200 kvolt van deGraff generator.


At 8:40 PM -0600 4/1/03, cliff parker wrote:

In the past I have participated in a "demonstration" involving a Wims=
hurst generator that I suspect most on this list have at one time or =
another been involved with. A large number of people hold hands the =
first in the chain places their hand on one end of the generator a fe=
w cranks of the handle are made and the last person on the chain touc=
hes the other end of the generator. Everyone in the chain receives a=
simultaneous shock. I have recently been thinking about this demons=
tration and wondering if anyone in the chain may be placing themselve=
s in danger. Any thoughts or experience that may shed some light?

Cliff Parker

Never express yourself more clearly than you can think. Niels Bohr=
=20


--
.-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-
\ / \ / \ N / \ C / \ S / \ S / \ M / \ / \ /
`-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-'
Chuck Britton Education is what is left when
britton@ncssm.edu you have forgotten everything
North Carolina School of Science & Math you learned in school.
(919) 416-2762 Albert Einstein, 1936