The Eric Dollard Lightglobe experiment

[Farmhand]

I also tested the foil attracted to the Tesla Coils elevated capacitance and light bulb, I think I also tried with paper and from memory that was also attracted. I didn't find it all that odd or anything and just dismissed the effect as the same effect as two oppositely charged plates attracting. The attraction using AC could be a result similar to that of a Universal motor where applied AC turns the motor the same way regardless of the input connections being swapped.

As far as the "subjective" reports of feeling a pressure pushing back on a humans hand I say so what, big fizz, even if there is a repulsive force I don't think it means much.

TK, did you try paper to see if it is attracted and if not what is your prediction for what will happen.

When I tried the foil I had it suspended from a wooden stick and left my body out of it as the voltage was way too high.

I find that people just saying they feel a repulsive force is not scientific, the humans nervous system could be fooled by the electrical effects and just think it feels a pushing force,
They should put together an analogue human and measure an effect.
..

[Farmhand]

I think a similar effect is explained from about 7:16 minutes in the linked video lecture. To get the context the first part of the video must be watched as well as he was talking about Benjamin Franklin and some early history of the discoveries of electricity ect. .

Lec 01: What holds our world together? | 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2002 (Walter Lewin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx64cq0HeXY

I would also draw attention to figure 2., of the linked Patent Drawing below, from One of Tesla's patents..
Here is a section of the patent referring to the two plates.

In illustration of a particular form of apparatus which may be used in carrying out my discovery I now refer to Fig. 2. In this figure, which in the general arrangement of the elements' is identical to Fig. 1, the device at is shown as com posed of two very thin con ducting-plates 2ft', placed in close proximity and very mobile, either by reason of extreme flexibility or owing to the character of their support. To improve their action, they should be inclosed in a receptacle, from which the 'air may be exhausted. The plates 25 t' are connected in series with a working circuit, including a suitable receiver, which in this case is shown as consisting of an electromagnet M, a movable armature a, a retractile spring I), and a ratchet-wheel 10, provided with a spring-pawl 11, which is pivoted to armature a, as illustrated. When the radiations of the sun or other radiant source fall upon plate P, a current flows into the con denser, as above explained, until the potential therein rises sufficiently to attract and bring into contact the two plates 25 t', and thereby close the circuit connected to the two condenser-terminals. This permits a flow of current which energizes the magnet M, causing it to draw down the armature a and impart a- partial rotation to the ratchet-Wheel to. As the current ceases the armature is retracted by the spring Z), without, however, moving the wheel to. With the stoppage of the current the plates t t' cease to be attracted and separate, thus restoring the circuit to its original condition.

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pages/US685957-0.png

Patent link.
https://www.google.com/patents/US685957

Nothing new it seems.

[pomodoro]

Hi Farmhand, thanks for the links, that lecture was good to watch. The lecturer was great at explaining stuff, and yes, static is responsible, but Dollard and Co, produced it not by rubbing, but by ionizing.

.                                                         .The   ' Dollard Lindemann effect' 

I was wondering how that cap was being charged with HF AC from the tesla coil at a distance.  Unless he held the opposite end of the cap through a hidden diode it could never charge to a high voltage, not only that but because it was only capacitively coupled trough probably a pF or two to the bulb it would never get much of a voltage developed anyhow. I was thinking of 'Dollard Lindemann Rays'. Then it hit me!

I'm 99% certain that Dollard and the other goof were actually making Xrays. Xrays are capable of ionizing air and probably other material. That would explain the capacitor charging up while Dollard held the other cap terminal, essentially grounding it.  That was the reason why he specified vacuum bulbs, not the normal argon filled ones. Xrays were generated when the electrons from the hot filament hit the glass at high speed.

I'm going to replicate the experiment soon, with a Geiger Counter and Fluorescing material near the buld,  to see if that is what was going on. There is no need for all that fancy pancake coil stuff. You just need a hot filament and some 40-50kV potential. Even HV AC from a small Tesla coil discharging into a cold vacuum bulb can give Xrays during one half cycle!  The fact that Dollard was honest about the vacuum bulb, means that he probably was not trying to fool viewers back then, but the fact that he and the other two 'expert'  physicists were salivating at their 'discovery'  all the while not realizing that it was due to X-rays is quite frankly shocking.

If indeed it is due to Xrays, then his later replication in 2011 is unforgivable.He would have known by then, and exposed all those people to weak, but still potentially dangerous levels of radiation.

[xee2]

pomodoro,

I have also always thought that they were just generation x-rays. One end of filament is at ground and the other is at 50KV AC. That is enough voltage to pull electrons from the wire but not enough to pull the positive atoms from the wire. This creates a 50K electron accelerator that slams electron into the other end of the filament which is a very hard metal. This is how x-rays are produced in dental office.

[Farmhand]

Well he is holding one terminal of a capacitor while grounded while the other terminal and the plate it is attached to is isolated close to an electric field and a flow of current ect. isn't he ? Wouldn't the electrical effects in/around the wires and even from the coil cause the capacitor plate closest to the setup to be charged opposite to the polarity of the field ?
And if the other plate is grounded through Eric then unless the setup was shut off at the Zero volt crossing point the capacitor would have some charge on it.

Any ring down would be damped by the load.

Given the size of the capacitor and the voltage required to get the effect he shows we should be able to calculate the charge on the capacitor an then understand what it would take to get it there.

Anyone remember what size the cap was ? Curiosity has got me, I will watch it again.