segal@motcid.UUCP (Gary Segal) (01/31/91)
raoul@eplunix.UUCP (Nico Garcia) writes: >But if you do something stupid with a powerful source, like stand in a >puddle while licking a highly charged Van de Graff, there is enough energy >there to hurt you. There is nothing magically safer about it, it's like >comparing matches to firewood. The difference is one of scale, not type. On the subject of scale; check out the Van de Graff generator at the Boston Science Museum sometime. It's about three stories high, with balls that are quite large in diameter. It can generate quite a few mega-volts of "static" electricity. The staff there calls it lighting simulator, and I'd have to agree with them! If you go, the winter is the best time because the drier air allows a larger charge to be built up before the resulting discharge; i.e. bigger booms. In case you are wondering why anybody would want to build such a thing, it was build in the early part of the centruy (20's or 30's I think) as part of experements on splitting atoms. Of course today we have much better ways to split atoms, and this very large generator has become a show and tell piece for the Boston Science Museum. Oh yea, the entire generator is in a Faraday cage so that the audience is safe. -- Gary Segal ...!uunet!motcid!segal +1-708-632-2348 Motorola INC., 1501 W. Shure Drive, Arlington Heights IL, 60004 The opinions expressed above are those of the author, and do not consititue the opinions of Motorola INC.