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Re: Arcs off the fingers and getting killed in the process...
Malcolm Watts wrote:
> I've been following this thread with much interest, particularly
> as I have taken quite a few body shots from various coils
> (deliberately). I think there is a very significant difference between
> attracting sparks to oneself while standing in well insulated footwear
> on a non conducting surface and letting the sparks emanate from
> oneself while sitting atop a HV terminal, *especially* if sparks in the
> latter case attach to some object. In the first case there is a degree
> of impedance in the discharge path. In the second case ???
Insulated footwear can worsen the problem, as sparks can easily jump
from your feet to the ground, over your shoes. I have seen students
having much fun with this effect while operating a Van de Graaff
generator. While experimenting with a large electrostatic machine
once used for electrotherapeutic treatments and an "effluve" accessory,
that is a crown of points suspended from an insulating support,
I observed another interesting case of this phenomenon. A friend that
was close to the area covered by the corona emmanations from the
device received painful discharges in the feet, from his body
discharging over his shoes.
Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz