San Mateo 2008 Maker Faire

Lots of fun was had by all at the Faire.  Huge numbers of people made it out to check out all the Makers and Companies who brought their creations, products and toys out to share.  If you were there, maybe I shocked you with hundreds of thousands of volts from my Van de Graaff generator. 

Jack's Toys

We brought out four high voltage devices to play with. 

Van de Graaff Generator

  The VDG is just a conveyor belt for electrons.  They gathered from the bottom brush, which is just a metallic scrub pad.  Then the latex belt carries them up to the top brush, which is inside the globe.  It is just some copper screen.  The 22" globe size determines how much voltage can be stored there.  It accumulates until it is discharged either into the air, or a grounded object.  YOU may have been that object!  Funny what the reduction does to my hickory stripe bib overalls.   Makes the verical stripes look very strange.

Jacob's Ladder

Solid State Tesla Coil

Plasmasonic Tesla Coil