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Re: Manly saltwater caps
Tesla List wrote:
>
> Original Poster: "christopher boden" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com>
the
> center? The basic idea here is to increase the surface area. Does the water
> act as a conducter or dialectric?
Salt water (the salt is important) is the conductor. The plastic of the
bottle is the dielectric. Hence, you want the maximum salt content (i.e.
a saturated solution). Of course, that will corrode your aluminum foil
in short order...
Don't forget a layer of oil (any kind..used motor oil would probably
work, but would be messy) on top of the water to suppress corona at the
surface (i.e. the edge of the capacitor "plate". Doesn't have to be
thick, but it helps a lot.
Carefully calculate, though... Many small bottles will have more surface
area for a given weight of water than one giant bottle. And, the large
5 gal bottles I have seen have pretty thin plastic.
Id suggest that you and your helpers spend the evening consuming much
beer and then use the bottles. Don't worry about loss in the glass, and
be glad that the dielectric constant of glass is twice that of plastic.