Re: "lightning machine" at Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry? (fwd)

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Original poster: Steven Roys <sroys@xxxxxxxxxx>



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 15:40:14 -0700
From: Ed Phillips <evp@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: High Voltage list <hvlist@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: "lightning machine" at Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry?
    (fwd)

It was not a Cockroft-Walton circuit. It was a classic Marx impulse 
generator.  I repaired it for them several times.  The original design used 
HV resistors that were too small and they kept frying.  The generator was 
quickly and quitely removed from service when someone discovered the caps 
were filled with PCBs.  It was a 1,000,000 Volt Marx generator.

Dr. Resonance"

	Was it really safer to remove it from surface and scrap the capacitors than to leave it in place, where it was surely safe from any mechanical damage?  It may have been the "politically correct" thing to do but I can't help wondering if it was really necessary.  I also wonder how many pole pigs filled with PCB are still in service?  

Ed