# My Crafts Are High-Potential Physics



## HiDesertHal (Jun 4, 2017)

These are the High-Voltage "Lightning Machines" I built:

The large 30" sphere was fabricated in 2 hemispheres by a metal-spinning company. 

Using a 1/4 HP motor driving an endless dielectric belt, the static charges were deposited inside the Sphere until they could no longer be contained, then they discharged in an arc which was over 4 feet long, representing a potential of over one million volts.

The machine could not be used in the house, as the discharges penetrated the ceiling of the Game Room and attached to the house wiring, causing a surge which tripped circuit breakers everywhere!

The Sphere is  now a Garden Ornament!

The other device is a Bonelli Machine, an electrostatic device using hand-cranked, counter-rotating 36" discs to develop a charge between them, which was conducted to the Leyden Jar Capacitors, which discharged through the copper ball electrodes, yielding over 300,000 volts.

That's all.....
HiDesertHal             (Double-posting of Bonelli Machine...sorry!)


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## Granny B. (Jun 4, 2017)

Hal, you are quite the inventor,  maybe not safe to have around the house  :holymoly: but definitely creative and impressive.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Jun 4, 2017)

Wow! And I thought I was doing good with my adult coloring books and painting a broken down rocking chair. Very impressive Hal.


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## jujube (Jun 4, 2017)

Good heavens, those are impressive!


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## HiDesertHal (Jun 5, 2017)

Hey Granny B.

*I never invented a thing in my life!*

My Million-Volt Van de Graaff generator was invented in 1932 by American physicist R. J. Van de Graaff.   There are much larger machines in existence.

The Bonetti Machine is a European invention dating back to 1870. It is now used only in Science classroom demonstrations.

All I did was build on existing designs!

HDH


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## Toomuchstuff (Jun 6, 2017)

Wow !!!!!


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## HiDesertHal (Jun 7, 2017)

I also have displays of former interests in the form of working scale models.

HiDesertHal


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