Leyden jar dangerous?

[Cherryman]

Hi all, not sure where to put this.  but here it goes


I'm building some kind of capacitor  , and i resembles for now a bit a leyden jar design , I will fill it with air and later salt water.. and as I have no knowledge of high voltage i did some reading.


I know High voltage can be dangerous, but as i want to fill it with static electricity, how dangerous is that ?


I know first rule: Don't touch it before you use some insulated grounded pole or short it out...


Any other things i need to consider ?


TIA  Cherryman

[TinselKoala]

Yes, Leyden jars can be very dangerous. Yes, "static" electricity can charge Leyden jars or other capacitors to very high voltages. Yes, if you aren't careful you can kill yourself (or your cat) with a Leyden jar charged to high voltage. Yes, be very careful and use a carefully made discharge wand (sometimes called a "Jesus Pole") to discharge your Leyden jars before you handle them. Yes, if you have no knowledge of or experience with High Voltage -- do some studying and be _very careful_.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd2xUhf-T5U

[Cherryman]

Yes, Leyden jars can be very dangerous. Yes, "static" electricity can charge Leyden jars or other capacitors to very high voltages. Yes, if you aren't careful you can kill yourself (or your cat) with a Leyden jar charged to high voltage. Yes, be very careful and use a carefully made discharge wand (sometimes called a "Jesus Pole") to discharge your Leyden jars before you handle them. Yes, if you have no knowledge of or experience with High Voltage -- do some studying and be _very careful_.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd2xUhf-T5U

Tnx I apreciate the reply!  I'm doing my research.


Here is a little video of my testbed in progress.


https://youtu.be/10Jg8u-NgLs

[Cherryman]

I've been trying for a few days now to use a continues sparking BBQ electric arc lighter to charge up some electrostatic stuff.


What ever i try.. it seems not to work..   anybody any suggestions ? Starting to get frustrated.


I put some wires on it ..and that works.
I can spark with them, but could it be possible there is no Pos and Neg.. 
I tried charging Leyden Jars, I tried making a electrostatic bell.. 
I tried a simple electrostatic motor.. 
but nothing seems to charge ...turn or move.


Anybody know how these lighters work?
Could it be they change polarity so nothing gets charged?


I also have a plasma ball, could i use that power supply out to use for producing some HV charging ?


PS  I made a electroscope to test charge.  And it works with pvc and cloth. So i can test.. but i guess the lighter circuit is somehow wrong for this ?

[sm0ky2]

@cherryman


It is true, in certain situations, static electricity can be
Dangerous.
Most people are not able to create these situations.
And therefore, it is safe to handle. Might scare you or
make you jump a little. But I would consider it harmless.


When it comes to Leyden jars, the point of danger lies in
A range of potential somewhere between 40k and 200kV
And it's not just the voltage that kills you. It has to do with
The discharge current. Which is a factor of the distance
between the plates of the Leyden jar. The closer the charged
plates are to one another, the more dangerous the discharge.
also there is a factor of the insulation on the jar, and
how the charge leaks from it.
Once you get above a few hundred thousand volts, the
danger scales off due to the surface effect. You body won't take
current from extremely high potentials, it just rides on your skin.
Tesla was approaching megavolt potentials, which creates "safe"
Lightning
There are images of this that show tesla and his visitors being
struck by this high voltage lightning without any ill effects.


Modern experimenters have replicated this on a much smaller scale.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Now let's talk about your crystal.
The "generator" inside the clicker is activated by
A spring loaded Hammer.
When you press the button, the spring builds up tension
Once it gets to the release point the spring flies open
Sending the hammer towards the Quartz.
This accounts for 90% of your time you took pushing the
button. No energy is output during this time.
The hammer strikes the crystal for but a couple of microseconds.
One quick pop that causes stress on the crystalline structure.
When that stress relaxes back to the crystals normal rest state
That is when the electricity is converted from physical force.
This conversion takes only nanoseconds. Almost 1000 times faster
Than the hammer that caused the stress.


So your first issue is the short pulse compared to the long time it
takes you to push the button again.


The second issue is these devices are low voltage, high current.
Generally between 500V - 2kV
Basically it takes a lot of clicks to try to do what you are doing
On top of that, you are in a race against leakage.


Maybe attaching several clickers onto a large push button?