/diy/ - Do It Yourself

additional information: I actually already wrapped the exterior of the trashcan in aluminum foil, as well as covering the interior. It has a coke crate (those plastic ones that hold the 6 packs) across the lid to hold the coat hanger in place. I used two coat hangers to dangle from the lid and touch the aluminum foil interior in 3 spots. Will this even work?

You should let yourtalented /diy/ertry it out first if it's safe.

>>403613
I don't know if it's safe, that's the problem. Last thing i want is to accidentally send mytalented /diy/erto the hospital.. fuck i would never live that down with the wife...

Maybe start with a smaller jar? In theory a Leyden Jar can store a lot of energy and be really dangerous. In practise, I tried to build one out of a pickle jar and charged it with a 3000V lab power supply, but it didn't seem to work well. I think it was because I didn't have a sphere at the top so too much charge was escaping.

A link you may find useful:
http://www.sentex.ca/~mec1995/circ/hv/hvcap/hvcap.html

>>403625
how important is the sphere on top?

Yes these can be very dangerous when made large.

Wear a metal suit and you'll be fine

well lessee
if the surface area of the trash can is 2 square meters, and the van de graff generator produces 5 million volts, and the thickness of the trash can is 5mm, that'll give you about 5000000*2/(4pi*8.99*10^9) = 0.017 coulombs of charge

make of that what you will

>>403599
>4 foot wooden pole while i wear rubber gloves and boots
Don't rely on materials for insulation unless you know that they're rated for HV. At high voltages even "insulators" can pass current.

What you basically want to make sure of is that no current can go across your heart. If you're dead set on trying this, make sure that in the worst case the current goes through an arm and leg on the same side of your body. So for example right hand with the stick, right foot forward.

Your trashcan sounds a little dangerous. Everyone present should wear eye protection at least. Work your way up in voltage, don't go for broke immediately.

This is a plastic trashcan, correct?

>>403599
If you ground the shorting stick to a good cold water pipe, or ground it to a good earth ground (third prong on a socket wouldn't be a good idea) it should be safer. Even safer if you assemble the Leyden jar on a conductive surface, attach conductive surface to a common earth ground, and attach the shorting stick to the same earth ground. You want to minimize any voltage drop across yourself. Making yourself, the stick, and the jar share the same ground will help.

>>403599

nahh, dont worry about it. you are not going to generate enough CURRENT to hurt yourself. you'll generate enough VOLTAGE to give you a good whack tough!

if you're gonna teach yrtalented /diy/erlecktrissity you should lrn yerseff sum first. wikipedia, the rudimentary basics behind ohm's law, etc.

hang two pingpong balls from string, charge 'em up with the leyden trashcan and watch 'em repel.

also! by all means! teach yourtalented /diy/erEXPERIMENTATION! read, then try, examine failure, work out solutions, try them, iterate! that is MOR EIMPORTANT that specific knowledge!!!

>>403805
Not sure the water pipe is a good idea... I agree with attaching the shorting stick to the same ground as the jar though.

>>403834
If there's a spark, there's current. The issue is making sure it goes where you want it to. Experimentation is fine and good, but generally it's a bad idea with HV.