[time-nuts] Conducting Bench Top Material

Hal Murray hmurray at megapathdsl.net
Wed Jan 27 10:27:39 UTC 2010


d.seiter at comcast.net said:
> The largest discharge we got was from an acrylic rod and the cat.  

Clean dry wool works nicely.  (I give all my old wool hiking socks to a 
friend who teaches physics to high school physics teachers.)

I think the other key ingredient is Styrofoam.  You can get good chunks as 
"paper" plates or fast-food containers.

http://www.exo.net/~pauld/summer_institute/summer_day14electrostatic/Electroph
orus.html
http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/sparker.html


bill at iaxs.net said:
> My first job was in a blasting cap plant in 1960. There were military
> devices so sensitive they could be set off by turning on a nearby
> fluorescent desk lamp. 

Fond memories...

In 1960, I was in high school.  A couple of classrooms had new chairs with a 
plastic seat and a steel frame.  They were great for generating static.  I 
had shoes that were good insulators.  I could charge up on one of the chairs 
and walk down the hall to the lockers and still give somebody a serious zap.

The chairs had 4 big round-headed bolts that went through the seat to hold it 
to the frame.  As the typical male was sitting down, a certain sensitive part 
of their anatomy was closest to the bolt.  We learned quickly.  I got very 
good at hitting a leg of the chair with my foot/ankle as I was sitting down.




-- 
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's.  I hate spam.






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