Re: DIY Plasma globes available

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Neonglo-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 12/5/02 11:39:28 PM Central Standard Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:

>Group,
>I ran across a source of 12" plasma globes for those of you interested in
>playing with this sort of thing.  I ordered three -- two arrived with
>broken off filler tips, but the third was sealed with an interesting gas
>mixture inside.  The open ones could be resealed with a bit of glassblowing.


Dave,

Acquire a vacuum pump and use one of the globes in an actively pumped 
globe. If you can connect a vacuum pump to the globe with the broken 
tubulation, you can get some interesting effects with low pressure air, 
which is mostly nitrogen anyway. Be extremely careful with the large globes 
as they are a major implosion hazard if broken. A simple manifold can be 
made from refrigeration parts that would allow you to backfill your globe 
with other gasses, like argon, which is easy to get. Xenon and krypton are 
frequently used, but they are extremely expensive. Results will not be long 
lasting, but you could learn a lot about plasma that way.

Best Regards,

Tony Greer
Special Effects Neon
Lubbock, Texas
"Flowing Glass and Glowing Gas"
        ~~~SINCE 1980~~~

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