Home made plasma ball using light bulb

Here is a home made plasma ball made with a high voltage generator and an ordinary incandescent light bulb. Loud and produces lots of ozone! The generator develops roughly 70kV with a reasonable amount of current. The low frequency generator was intended to drive a Jacobs Ladder but I thought why not try and ionise the gases in a light bulb to see the effect? Different bulbs will give different effects depending on the pressure and the mixture of gases inside.

Experimenting with plasma displays can be dangerous, not just because of the voltages involved, but also the amount of ozone that is generated (not good for lungs) and the amount of UV radiation that is emitted depending on the type of bulb you wish to zap (especially true of lamps containing mercury!).

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Science & Technology

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