Hey--The reason that the top comb is in the ball is that when the charge is gathered from the belt it immediately goes to the outside of the ball. In other words, the comb is in a field-free region. If it were outside, the high field from the ball would prevent the charge from transferring. Also, there would be sharp points that would dissipate the charge on the ball.
However, I have never heard of anybody actually trying this, so I could be blowing smoke. Wouldn't be the first time. When I have run my VDG with the sphere removed, I can draw about a 3/16 inch tiny blue spark to my finger. If I hook up a microammeter, the charging system seems to be a current source of about 11 microamps.
Still, it would be cool if somebody would try it. I have a small amount of money that says it wouldn't work very well.
--Carl
Hey guys, this might be the wrong place to ask, and I understand if this is rejected but I need some help with a van de graff generator I'm working on. In almost every generator I've seen, the top comb is inside the top load. I was wondering if it is 100% necessary for the comb to be inside. I was hoping to have the comb about half a foot underneath the bottom of the metal dome so that people can see what is happening. Then the comb will be attached to a wire that goes directly to the dome about half a foot above. Thanks for the help! _______________________________________________ Tesla mailing list Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
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