Historically, the Wimshurst electrostatic machines were most widely used in Russian schools, and Van de Graaff's in American schools. A home-made generator, in order to simplify the design, can be made unlike either one or the other.
Instructions
Step 1
Use a plexiglass sheet in the shape of a square with a side of about 300 millimeters as a base for the generator.
Step 2
In the middle of the base, mount the motor vertically from the faulty cassette recorder so that its shaft is pointing up.
Step 3
On the shaft of the electric motor, fix the damaged small-diameter gramophone record in any way convenient for you.
Step 4
Make a holder for a piece of leather from parts from a children's metal designer so that it is located above the plate and slightly rubbed it. Secure this holder so that it does not interfere with the rotation of the record.
Step 5
Cut a piece of leather itself from an unnecessary boot. Weave some thin wire into it. Attach it to the holder.
Step 6
Take an old metal washcloth. Attach it to the base under the phonograph record on the side opposite to the holder of the piece of leather. It should also touch the plate lightly without interfering with its rotation.
Step 7
Test the electrostatic machine away from any electronic devices. If you want to photograph the operation of the generator, ask an assistant about this, who should not approach the structure with a camera or telephone at a distance of less than four meters. If necessary, it can use the zoom function. After working with the machine, before touching any electronic devices, discharge your body by moving away from the generator, and then go to the bathroom and hold your finger under a stream of warm water for a few seconds. An assistant must open the tap before this.
Step 8
You can determine if a homemade electrostatic machine works like this. Connect a neon lamp between a wire woven into a piece of leather and a steel wool. Apply rated voltage to the engine and this lamp should light up shortly. Take a closer look and you will find that only one electrode is glowing. It is he who is connected to the negative pole. Try to force the generators to rotate in the opposite direction, by reversing the polarity of the power supply to the electric motor. The polarity of the high voltage at the generator output will not change. If you cannot explain this phenomenon yourself, consult a physics teacher.
Step 9
Make the simplest flat capacitor. Its covers can be made of foil, and a dry plastic plate cut from a bottle of drinks serves as a dielectric. The covers should be in the form of squares with a side of about 20 mm. Making a capacitor with larger plates, and therefore a larger capacity, is dangerous.
Step 10
Make a simple relaxation generator by connecting in parallel a capacitor you have made and an arrester consisting of two pins, the distance between the tips of which is a few millimeters. Connect it to a generator and start the engine. Sparks will periodically jump between the electrodes of the spark gap. In fact, a relaxation generator, in addition to a capacitor and an element with negative dynamic resistance (in this case, a spark gap), necessarily contains a resistor. Here it is expressed implicitly - it is replaced by a high internal resistance of the generator. Never run an electrostatic machine with a capacitor, but without a spark gap.
Step 11
At the end of the work, stop the engine and then discharge the capacitor with a screwdriver with a very well insulated handle. You can also place the entire generator in a plexiglass box, closed on all sides, so that the discharges are visible, but it is impossible to touch the high voltage elements. In this case, there is no need to discharge the capacitor after each shutdown of the machine.
