230V DC Carbon Arc Lamp

Well, ive been doing experimentation into arclamps recently because an technology historian recently taught me that it its historically incorrect, though very impressive , to run old arclamps on an arc welder.
They were run on far higher voltages but just 5 instead of 50 Amperes.
So the boss of the museum wants me to display it the right way in august.....
This experiment shows clearly: 6Amps at 230V work VERY well, but in the meanwhile i have come to realize that like you can buy incandescent lightbulbs for 6V to 230V, there are all sorts of different arclamps wich my need anything between 20V and 230V, its all a matter what they were used for.

P.S. The arclamps in the museum are manual, non self regulating ones so they can run on virtually any input.......

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Arc
• Lamp
• Light
• Bright
• Flash
• electricity
• DC
• AC
• Gas
• Discharge
• Lighting
• experiment

[jlfqam]

Hey, I wonder if it is possible to reproduce Oersted's experiment using a DC arc instead of a wire conductor.

Does a DC current through air (the arc) produce a perpendicular magnetic field to the direction of current like in a conductor?. Can this assembly you show be used for the experiment?

Thanks

Jordi

[Mrpsychotehpyro]

@jlfqam

Oh yes , i have never tried to measure it , but it shure als hell has to ! A magnetic field is the result of flowing charge or changing electric fields. Changing electric fields is the part of magnetism that allows for EM-Waves. Flowing charge is what causes "conventional" electro magnetism. What kinda flowing charge doesnt matter. Electrons, Ions, hell, even an object carrying static electricity will develope a magnetic field if it is moved very rapidly...

[NJPurling]

Strangely you can get the carbon rods. Apparently they are coated with copper.

They were the main light source for cinema projectors.

That was when they used Cellulose Nitrate for the film base, which is dangerously flammable.

You can buy the rods because people do preserve the old (35mm) projectors & wish them to be as originally installed in the cinema.

[Mrpsychotehpyro]

@NJPurling

Hi

yeah, some cinemas use the old projectors and from what i hear they say that carbon arc gives slightly better colors than xenon arc.

Thats is actually quite a feasible theory simply because the carbon arc generates a lot of light from the hot electrodes and not only from the plasma, this light produced by thermal emission has a more uniform spectrum.

The electrodes here are from a welding equipment supplier, they are normally used to cut and remove metal with a welding xfmr.

[jlfqam]

Thanks for your quick answer.

I thought the behaviour could be different if the conductor was air instead of a metal.

In your assembly perhaps the arc is not long enough to place a magnet not being affected

by the current flowing through the wires and rods.

greetings

Jordi

[MrSciencetificsasuke]

looks just like the one i made

[snyperbob]

Hello, What are you using for your carbon rods? Are you just using standard welding rods ground to points, or something else? Thank you

[duckquack18]

Awesome setup man