[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Strange light bulb mistery...
Me and a friend just purchased two 12kv 30ma neon sign transformers (Big
/heavy things btw), they were old, but for 20$, they sounded good to
buy.
So we proceded to fool around, and decided to grab some light bulbs to
make some nifty plasma globes, we hooked one up, and presto, a few blue
arcs from the inside filament to the glass, it hit my friend to put some
aluminum foil on the outside of the glass. And bam, tons of sparks from
the inside, a few seconds later the foil arced to the base of the bulb,
producing about 10 LONG blasts of blue. The strang thing was, all of
these were leaping about 4", and they were bright, and the same color as
the streamers produced inside the bulb.
They were also LOUD. The mistery was we achieved the largest sparks from
the streamer produced outside the bulb (It was touching and running down
the bulbs). So how was this possible? Was something in the glass or
inside the bulb causing this?
We are continueing these cool experiments, will full safety, like Bill
Beaty says "Treat them with extreme fear". ;)
No shocks, burns or fires.. I think we are doing ok.
Anyone got any cool experiment for me to try b4 I end up killing these?
Jeremy Bair
[As this is somewhat off topic, please communicate directly. Thanks -- Chip]