Re: Hood Ornament

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Pete Komen by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<pkomen-at-zianet-dot-com>
> 
> Terry,
> 
> I like the idea of a hood ornament coil and I agree that grounding problems
> could be solved.  I do not like the idea of an energized car body (is that a
> body with potential?) as a theft deterrent.  How about a Van de Graff
> generator style charging of the auto body using the tires as the belt
> (getting off topic)*?  ;--)
> 
> Pete Komen

1. Before thinking about going to the trouble of mounting a little coil,
run it and see whether you can see the streamers at all in the daytime,
and whether it is bright enough to be interesting even at night.

2. Don't bother anyway.

3. The tires on your car DO generate static electricity.  Just try
dangling a wire out the window and dragging on the ground; you can
usually draw sparks to the car body.  Effect is probably a lot less with
modern rubber composition, but when I was a kid used to do this all the
time to overcome the boredom of riding in the back seat!

Ed