Re: High Voltage Stunt on Fear Factor tonight.

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Steve Ward <steve.ward@xxxxxxxxx>

Terry,


On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 20:54:09 -0700, Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Original poster: Terry Fritz <teslalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hi Steve,
>
> You think it's fake?
>
> http://hot-streamer.com/temp/FearFactor.jpg

That particular shot doesnt look too bad, but its really hard to tell.
 The sparks shown are produced from a tesla coil, or some other pulsed
source... but sparks like that tend to BURN the flesh... not
particularly safe to be grabing on to.  Now i DO believe they probably
charged up all the metal bits with an electric fence power supply or
something to give a little snap ;-)

>
> Well, yea ok...  The sparks don't follow the laws of physics, but I am sure
> they were real sparks and filmed for real at one time in history ;-))  The
> video dubbing was pretty good unless it was against a light
> background.  The usual corny reality show...

Yeah, it was hard to tell at times if it was real or fake.  But with
my years of playing with TCs, my instincts suggested that they were
dubbed.  Im sure most of the typical viewers who dont play zeus in the
back yard might have believed that those little sparks really were
shooting out just as they grabbed the flags!

But they definately didnt fake the last fear factor, but they were
also wearing those nice faraday suits (i want one).

>
> Of course, only idiots play with real electricity ;o))
>
> http://hot-streamer.com/temp/P1310004.JPG
>
> And yes, the my DRSSTC is putting out little streamers now ;-)))

Hey it works! (let me guess, running off of 9V batteries or
something?)  And just to make sure its a *tesla coil* you took the
output right to your body... yep its a TC ;-).  Better watch out
though, that Alternating Current is potent enough to kill an elephant!
;-)

Steve W.

>
> Nice to hear from Sam and know he is doing cool stuff!!
>
> Cheers,
>
>         Terry
>
> BTW - I used to work on line carrier equipment at substations.  You would
> get up on a ladder about 7 feet from the lines and mess with the voltage
> pickoff equipment.  Everything metal would just shock the crap out of you
> from all the static electricity.  It got "real old" after a few hours...  I
> wish I could say it did not have any permanent effects on me %:o))
>
>
> At 07:00 PM 1/31/2005, you wrote:
> >I caught the last 10 minutes or so of the show (before they cursed
> >each other out), i didnt catch the introduction to the "stunt", but it
> >really looked faked to me.  It looked like they edited in little SSTC
> >or VTTC brush discharges to dramatize the whole thing.  I would not be
> >surprised if the metal parts were actually charged up, but the little
> >streamers that we see on TV do look completely fake (why would they
> >spray out into the air when a grounded human touches them?).  Please
> >correct me if im wrong.
> >
> >Any comments on this Sam?
> >
> >
> >Steve W.
>
>