An experiment too far? (off-topic)

Jan Panteltje wrote:
On a sunny day (26 Aug 2006 03:35:56 -0700) it happened
wrote in
. com:

Storms around here have been prevalent so it shouldn't be too
difficult to catch some of the power of lighting within the jar. I
intend to attach the brass knob to a lightning rod running down
the side of my local church. This I feel would make a suitable
conductor.

The question is ...once I've captured the electricity what do I do
with it???? Thoughts???

You will not have to worry about that, as the exploding glass will
have pierced you so many times you wil be dead.

Do not do this, DO NOT DO THIS.

Thank you for you concern but you have no need to worry.

No, but you have.

I will be
taking suitable protective precautions to guard against any potential
electrical anomalies. For one - I rarely conduct my experiments using
myself as the guinea pig. Whilst I will be holding the video camera,
my friend Stig will be the one dealing with the jar. I have equipped
Stig with a pair of rubber Wellington boots and some marigolds
(rubber washing up gauntlets). As an extra precaution Stig will also
be sat on his motorcycle - the rubber tyres providing a secondary
insulator from electrical shock. The leyden Jar will sit on top of
the fuel tank of Stig's motorcycle so that he does not have to hold
it with his hands.

You must be joking, I think by now, why not simply shoot your friend?

With half a megavolt or so and some damp weather, the lighting
will not even notice any rubber, just arc around it.
The air in your jar will ionize and heat to thousands of degrees
in a split second, the pressure will blow the bottle apart, the
glass will pierce your friend and the fuel tank, the plasma and arc
will ignite the fuel, what a mess.

You are a nutter if you do this.
Darwin award.

Do NOT DO THIS (2 x now)

I don't think you need to worry. Bazza is a responsible chap and I'm sure in
the event of a minor accident he'll have his mobile phone to hand to call
assistance.


Ian

On a sunny day (Sat, 26 Aug 2006 14:16:36 +0100) it happened "Jaxtraw"
wrote in
:
Darwin award.

Do NOT DO THIS (2 x now)

I don't think you need to worry. Bazza is a responsible chap and I'm sure in
the event of a minor accident he'll have his mobile phone to hand to call
assistance.


Ian

LOL
Not many are known to have called back from heaven (or hell).

Jaxtraw wrote:
Jan Panteltje wrote:
On a sunny day (26 Aug 2006 03:35:56 -0700) it happened
wrote in
. com:

Storms around here have been prevalent so it shouldn't be too
difficult to catch some of the power of lighting within the jar. I
intend to attach the brass knob to a lightning rod running down
the side of my local church. This I feel would make a suitable
conductor.

The question is ...once I've captured the electricity what do I do
with it???? Thoughts???

You will not have to worry about that, as the exploding glass will
have pierced you so many times you wil be dead.

Do not do this, DO NOT DO THIS.

Thank you for you concern but you have no need to worry.

No, but you have.

I will be
taking suitable protective precautions to guard against any potential
electrical anomalies. For one - I rarely conduct my experiments using
myself as the guinea pig. Whilst I will be holding the video camera,
my friend Stig will be the one dealing with the jar. I have equipped
Stig with a pair of rubber Wellington boots and some marigolds
(rubber washing up gauntlets). As an extra precaution Stig will also
be sat on his motorcycle - the rubber tyres providing a secondary
insulator from electrical shock. The leyden Jar will sit on top of
the fuel tank of Stig's motorcycle so that he does not have to hold
it with his hands.

You must be joking, I think by now, why not simply shoot your friend?

With half a megavolt or so and some damp weather, the lighting
will not even notice any rubber, just arc around it.
The air in your jar will ionize and heat to thousands of degrees
in a split second, the pressure will blow the bottle apart, the
glass will pierce your friend and the fuel tank, the plasma and arc
will ignite the fuel, what a mess.

You are a nutter if you do this.
Darwin award.

Do NOT DO THIS (2 x now)

I don't think you need to worry. Bazza is a responsible chap and I'm sure in
the event of a minor accident he'll have his mobile phone to hand to call
assistance.

Ian

I am in two minds whether to call said experiment off....but Stig is as
keen as mustard to give it a try. Plus I have promised him a case of
Bud Ice in exchange for his participation. In the meantime I will
further review adaquate safety measures after some of the warnings that
have been posted. I now intend to wrap his torso in layers of
bubble-wrap and sellotape just in case anything adverse should happen.

PS Have no credit on my mobile but there is a telephone box about 1500
yards from the church yard which should suffice.

Baz

wrote in message
ups.com...
|
| Jan Panteltje wrote:
| On a sunny day (25 Aug 2006 10:40:26 -0700) it happened
| wrote in
| . com:
|
| Storms around here have been prevalent so it shouldn't be too difficult
| to catch some of the power of lighting within the jar. I intend to
| attach the brass knob to a lightning rod running down the side of my
| local church. This I feel would make a suitable conductor.
|
| The question is ...once I've captured the electricity what do I do with
| it???? Thoughts???
|
| You will not have to worry about that, as the exploding glass will have
| pierced you so many times you wil be dead.
|
| Do not do this, DO NOT DO THIS.
|
| Thank you for you concern but you have no need to worry. I will be
| taking suitable protective precautions to guard against any potential
| electrical anomalies. For one - I rarely conduct my experiments using
| myself as the guinea pig. Whilst I will be holding the video camera, my
| friend Stig will be the one dealing with the jar. I have equipped Stig
| with a pair of rubber Wellington boots and some marigolds (rubber
| washing up gauntlets). As an extra precaution Stig will also be sat on
| his motorcycle - the rubber tyres providing a secondary insulator from
| electrical shock. The leyden Jar will sit on top of the fuel tank of
| Stig's motorcycle so that he does not have to hold it with his hands.
|
| The jar is now in the final stages of construction. The most difficult
| part of the operation was lining the inside of the jar with foil.
| Hopefully - should weather conditions be appropriate - we will be ready
| to harness the power of lighting late this evening.
|
| One possible use for the power would be as a secondary power source for
| an electric powered motor-cycle - perhaps with "in-built" laden jar and
| brass or copper whip aerial (for charging during actual travel.)
|
| I will update tomorrow with a review of the experiment.
|
| Bazza


You should not have done that foul foil thing, you should have
taken the jar to a mirror manufacturer and had it coated with
aluminium, inside and out. I trust it was a pickled onion jar
and you enjoyed the onions.
Anyway, when you've caught the lightning you can stand the
jar on your desk and watch it crackle as it arcs between the
inside and outside, it will be a nice ornament or paperweight.
Make sure you remove any coating around the rim of the jar or
you'll have a short circuit -- and then screw the metal lid on
tight to keep the captured lightning in, or it might escape on
the way home. I had a lizard that escaped from a jam jar once,
and it was a pet lizard too, much more fun than guinea pigs.

Good luck, and don't lick the jar.
Androcles

Sorcerer wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
|
| Jan Panteltje wrote:
| On a sunny day (25 Aug 2006 10:40:26 -0700) it happened
| wrote in
| . com:
|
| Storms around here have been prevalent so it shouldn't be too difficult
| to catch some of the power of lighting within the jar. I intend to
| attach the brass knob to a lightning rod running down the side of my
| local church. This I feel would make a suitable conductor.
|
| The question is ...once I've captured the electricity what do I do with
| it???? Thoughts???
|
| You will not have to worry about that, as the exploding glass will have
| pierced you so many times you wil be dead.
|
| Do not do this, DO NOT DO THIS.
|
| Thank you for you concern but you have no need to worry. I will be
| taking suitable protective precautions to guard against any potential
| electrical anomalies. For one - I rarely conduct my experiments using
| myself as the guinea pig. Whilst I will be holding the video camera, my
| friend Stig will be the one dealing with the jar. I have equipped Stig
| with a pair of rubber Wellington boots and some marigolds (rubber
| washing up gauntlets). As an extra precaution Stig will also be sat on
| his motorcycle - the rubber tyres providing a secondary insulator from
| electrical shock. The leyden Jar will sit on top of the fuel tank of
| Stig's motorcycle so that he does not have to hold it with his hands.
|
| The jar is now in the final stages of construction. The most difficult
| part of the operation was lining the inside of the jar with foil.
| Hopefully - should weather conditions be appropriate - we will be ready
| to harness the power of lighting late this evening.
|
| One possible use for the power would be as a secondary power source for
| an electric powered motor-cycle - perhaps with "in-built" laden jar and
| brass or copper whip aerial (for charging during actual travel.)
|
| I will update tomorrow with a review of the experiment.
|
| Bazza


You should not have done that foul foil thing, you should have
taken the jar to a mirror manufacturer and had it coated with
aluminium, inside and out. I trust it was a pickled onion jar
and you enjoyed the onions.
Anyway, when you've caught the lightning you can stand the
jar on your desk and watch it crackle as it arcs between the
inside and outside, it will be a nice ornament or paperweight.
Make sure you remove any coating around the rim of the jar or
you'll have a short circuit -- and then screw the metal lid on
tight to keep the captured lightning in, or it might escape on
the way home. I had a lizard that escaped from a jam jar once,
and it was a pet lizard too, much more fun than guinea pigs.

Good luck, and don't lick the jar.
Androcles

Thanks...I am rather hoping the jar will resemble that Time Controller
device from Remembrance of the Daleks once populated with electricity.

Baz

wrote in message
ps.com...
|
| Sorcerer wrote:
| wrote in message
| ups.com...
| |
| | Jan Panteltje wrote:
| | On a sunny day (25 Aug 2006 10:40:26 -0700) it happened
| | wrote in
| | . com:
| |
| | Storms around here have been prevalent so it shouldn't be too
difficult
| | to catch some of the power of lighting within the jar. I intend to
| | attach the brass knob to a lightning rod running down the side of
my
| | local church. This I feel would make a suitable conductor.
| |
| | The question is ...once I've captured the electricity what do I do
with
| | it???? Thoughts???
| |
| | You will not have to worry about that, as the exploding glass will
have
| | pierced you so many times you wil be dead.
| |
| | Do not do this, DO NOT DO THIS.
| |
| | Thank you for you concern but you have no need to worry. I will be
| | taking suitable protective precautions to guard against any potential
| | electrical anomalies. For one - I rarely conduct my experiments using
| | myself as the guinea pig. Whilst I will be holding the video camera,
my
| | friend Stig will be the one dealing with the jar. I have equipped Stig
| | with a pair of rubber Wellington boots and some marigolds (rubber
| | washing up gauntlets). As an extra precaution Stig will also be sat on
| | his motorcycle - the rubber tyres providing a secondary insulator from
| | electrical shock. The leyden Jar will sit on top of the fuel tank of
| | Stig's motorcycle so that he does not have to hold it with his hands.
| |
| | The jar is now in the final stages of construction. The most difficult
| | part of the operation was lining the inside of the jar with foil.
| | Hopefully - should weather conditions be appropriate - we will be
ready
| | to harness the power of lighting late this evening.
| |
| | One possible use for the power would be as a secondary power source
for
| | an electric powered motor-cycle - perhaps with "in-built" laden jar
and
| | brass or copper whip aerial (for charging during actual travel.)
| |
| | I will update tomorrow with a review of the experiment.
| |
| | Bazza
|
|
| You should not have done that foul foil thing, you should have
| taken the jar to a mirror manufacturer and had it coated with
| aluminium, inside and out. I trust it was a pickled onion jar
| and you enjoyed the onions.
| Anyway, when you've caught the lightning you can stand the
| jar on your desk and watch it crackle as it arcs between the
| inside and outside, it will be a nice ornament or paperweight.
| Make sure you remove any coating around the rim of the jar or
| you'll have a short circuit -- and then screw the metal lid on
| tight to keep the captured lightning in, or it might escape on
| the way home. I had a lizard that escaped from a jam jar once,
| and it was a pet lizard too, much more fun than guinea pigs.
|
| Good luck, and don't lick the jar.
| Androcles
|
| Thanks...I am rather hoping the jar will resemble that Time Controller
| device from Remembrance of the Daleks once populated with electricity.
|
| Baz


Daleks were once little elves that lived in those dome-topped
pyramids on roller skates with howitzers, but we never got to
see them. I expect they'd be more fun than lizards.
Androcles

wrote in message
ups.com...
Today (thanks to Nod's link to the most impressive Fortean Times web
site) I have been investigating the possibilities of constructing a
Leyden Jar. I was inspired by a description of such device on the
Fortean Times page relating to the Ark of the Covenant possibly
possessing the same unique properties.

http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/207_ark1.shtml

A description taken from a book published in 1899 describes the Leyden
Jar thus:

It consists of a glass jar, coated outside and inside with tinfoil to
within 2 or 3 cm of the top. It may therefore be regarded as a
condenser (capacitor) consisting of two parallel plates (positive and
negative) separated by a glass dielectric (insulator). The jar is
provided with a wooden lid, through the centre of which passes a brass
rod, terminating in a brass knob; a short length of metal chain is
attached to the lower end, and of sufficient length to touch the
tinfoil lining. The tinfoil serves as the insulated conductor, which
may be conveniently charged through the knob; the jar is either placed
on a table or held in the hand, so that the outer coating is
consequently earth-connected.

Tomorrow my mission will be to construct such a device using a milk
bottle, some tin-foil (or Baco!) a brass earthing spike (borrowed from
the garden that some wire or other was connected too), a brass knob
from the wardrobe, various other household items and a length of chain
from the kitchen sink plug.

Storms around here have been prevalent so it shouldn't be too difficult
to catch some of the power of lighting within the jar. I intend to
attach the brass knob to a lightning rod running down the side of my
local church. This I feel would make a suitable conductor.

The question is ...once I've captured the electricity what do I do with
it???? Thoughts???

Baz


Shove it up yer arse?

wrote:


A description taken from a book published in 1899 describes
the Leyden Jar thus:
...

The question is ...once I've captured the electricity what do
I do with it???? Thoughts???

Got any dead bodies that need reanimating?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072431/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021884/

--
Dan Tilque

"Dan Tilque" wrote in message
...
wrote:


A description taken from a book published in 1899 describes
the Leyden Jar thus:
...

The question is ...once I've captured the electricity what do
I do with it???? Thoughts???

Okay...we spent 3 hours in the Church Yard with zero lightning storms

The North West of England weather was playing havoc with my plans by
behaving itself. We did get through a crate of Bud Ice in the process
though, and only just made it home on our bikes as we were all over the
freakin road! lol

Once back at the flat I decided to lower my expectations of the experiment
and resort to testing out the properties of the :Leyden jar in a more
controlled manner. I had an old power supply from a computer and carefully
bared some of the wires. I then fastened a positive wire to the exterior of
the jar and the neutral to the brass spike. Everything was fine at this
point until my friend Spike plugged the device into the mains socket. Stig -
who was holding the jar at the time - convulsed in a strange manner and then
there followed a loud bang and all the lights went out in the flat. And in
the flat below.

At present we still haven't fixed the fault and the lights are still off
even though we have now unplugged the device from the electrical socket. Any
clues as to how to fix appreciated. A nail in the fusebox just gets hot and
smells so that's no longer an option.

Stig suffered minor burns but overall doesn't appear to be too badly
injured - just a little shook up (literally).

That might be it for the Leyden Jar experiments for now. (At least until we
can get the power back on.)

If anyone can suggest as to what went wrong I would truly appreciate it. I
suspect some kind of polarity problem or a damaged sine wave in one of the
inverse coils of the transformer. I don't know what that means but it sounds
REAL bad.

Bazza

Bazza wrote:
"Dan Tilque" wrote in message
...
wrote:


A description taken from a book published in 1899 describes
the Leyden Jar thus:
...

The question is ...once I've captured the electricity what do
I do with it???? Thoughts???

Okay...we spent 3 hours in the Church Yard with zero lightning storms

The North West of England weather was playing havoc with my plans by
behaving itself. We did get through a crate of Bud Ice in the process
though, and only just made it home on our bikes as we were all over the
freakin road! lol

Once back at the flat I decided to lower my expectations of the experiment
and resort to testing out the properties of the :Leyden jar in a more
controlled manner. I had an old power supply from a computer and carefully
bared some of the wires. I then fastened a positive wire to the exterior of
the jar and the neutral to the brass spike. Everything was fine at this
point until my friend Spike plugged the device into the mains socket. Stig -
who was holding the jar at the time - convulsed in a strange manner and then
there followed a loud bang and all the lights went out in the flat. And in
the flat below.

At present we still haven't fixed the fault and the lights are still off
even though we have now unplugged the device from the electrical socket. Any
clues as to how to fix appreciated. A nail in the fusebox just gets hot and
smells so that's no longer an option.

Stig suffered minor burns but overall doesn't appear to be too badly
injured - just a little shook up (literally).

That might be it for the Leyden Jar experiments for now. (At least until we
can get the power back on.)

If anyone can suggest as to what went wrong I would truly appreciate it. I
suspect some kind of polarity problem or a damaged sine wave in one of the
inverse coils of the transformer. I don't know what that means but it sounds
REAL bad.


The mistake was changing the venue from the churchyard, where at least
you could have dragged out a few pews for bleachers and charged an
admission fee to a substantial number of spectators. Proceeds from the
box office would have funded future experiments, no doubt to larger
crowds. With any luck, you would have made it to experiments in outdoor
ampitheatres before Stig turned black and tipped over.

PD