Ball Cyclotron (electrostatic accelerator)

[Bobnumbbumf]

If you made that look like an actual bowl, and handed it off to someone saying 'hey can you hold on to this for a minute', and the ball started spininng like that, well, LOL!

[thesourceofx]

Brilliant!

[trendsetter37]

@thesourceofx should this be read in the guiness commercial voice? lol

[HorizonDelta]

Kool !

[russiancrew5000]

How can I obtain copper "leaves" like the ones you use as contacts, or do they need to be made? Also, can you go into more detail concerning the hv supply you used for the experiment? Thanks!

[blackcreekresearch]

@russiancrew5000: The electrodes are copper foil tape, which can be found at many electronic parts suppliers. Alternatively I have used copper tape made for making stained glass windows. It's narrower but it does work. The HV supply is a 15KV module from a negative ion generator, sadly it was surplus and is no longer available. I have found new DC-DC converters that look like they will do the job but they're around $200. A VanDeGraaff or Wimshurst can work too.

[DeShark88]

And what happens if you put it in a vacuum?

[blackcreekresearch]

@DeShark88: Heh. That would be fun to try.

First, the ping pong ball will explode. :-)

If the vacuum is not particularly high, the electrodes will be operating in the glow discharge region which will load down the power supply.

If it's a decent vacuum like E-5 Torr, and the ball could be gently vented, I expect it would perform much better. The performance at 1 atmosphere is clearly affected by turbulence and air drag. Under vacuum it would only be limited by rolling friction.

[jmsnipes100]

Yes but will it blend

[blackcreekresearch]

drawandpublish: Since there is no magnetic field in there to speak of, the ferrofluid would not respond.

[drawandpublish]

I am wondering how it would look like if you put Ferrofluid there... Must be nice...

[blackcreekresearch]

I haven't tried this with a variable voltage source, so I cannot really give you a confident answer. I would guess that you could get some response at 5KV, but that is not based on any sort of measurement.

[kafr8413]

What is the minimum voltage that will drive the device?

[blackcreekresearch]

The coating on the ball is a material called "wire glue". Aquadag should also work but is harder to find in small quantities. The wire glue is thinned with a little water and painted onto the ping pong ball, then a light coating of clear Krylon is applied to keep the coating from coming off when handled.

[douro20]

Did you use Aquadag as the conductive coating?

[MichiganMaker]

Great stuff.... Keep the vids coming!