RE: SCIENCE FAIR BOTTLE CAPACITOR ExPERIMENT HELP!!!

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

Original poster: "Lau, Gary" <gary.lau-at-hp-dot-com> 


 >To Evaluate various electrolytes in capacitor duty, you could use the nf,
 >uf, f scale of a modern multimeter to determine capacitance.  Saturated
 >NaCl solution works well, but you will probably discover that many other
 >solutions do also.  For whatever reason, Corona beer bottles seem to make
 >the best Salt water/beer bottle capacitor around.  Utilize the Geek Group
 >design, with Corona Bottles,  and you will not be disapointed.

I suspect that Corona bottles are favored only because of the appropriate 
name.  I've not heard of anyone doing any kind of actual comparison to 
other bottle brands or colors.  If the person entering the science fair is 
a minor, I wouldn't advocate using beer bottles; glass iced tea bottles 
will surely work just as well.

 >If you are on a super-tight budget - a 2 liter soda bottle either wrapped
 >in foil, or immersed in NaCl will also make an awesome cap.  The corona
 >seems to appear right at the solution line, and can ultimately  destroy
 >the cap.unless an  oil layer is floated.

Plastic soda bottles should not be used for Tesla coil caps.  The 
dielectric losses in the plastic are many times higher than glass.

 >Part of the fun and educational experience is in designing your own cap,
 >and testing :"by fire"  You should have no problem in coming up with a
 >hypothosis of some sort.

Absolutely agree.

Gary Lau
MA, USA