ELECTRICITY/ELECTRONIC SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS
William J. Beaty
Electrical Engineer, U. of Washington
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Ultra-simple Electric Generator
Spin the magnet, light a bulb. The complement to the "Beakman Motor". Challenge: make the one run the other.Projects with Supermagnets
Lots of magnetic and electromagnetism demonstrations with Neodymium magnetsMake some "static electricity" using electronics: Negative ionizers make great electrostatic power supplies. Power the bottle motor.
Static Electricity Projects, all the High Voltage, low-current stuff in one place. Also try Links to other electrostatics projects
A tesla coil and a plastic bag of Argon gas. Create crawling plasma streamers, a "Plasma Globe" like Eye of the Storm&tm;. You'll first need to build a Solid State Tesla Coil
VandeGraaff Generators
Instructions for having fun with 500,000 volts, including finding a cheap one, plans sources, FAQ, debug...For the really big sparks, you're going to need a Tesla Coil
High voltage plasmas: Ball Lightning in your microwave oven
Demonstrate the 'Maser Theory' of Ball Lightning formationELECTROSTATIC GENERATOR: The Electrophorus
A simple device which can be used to power the pop-bottle motor.MAGLEV CRADLE
Lifts a bar magnet from below. Use this to perpetrate a Room Temperature Superconductor hoax?ELECTROSTATIC GENERATOR, Kelvin's Thunderstorm"
An electrostatic generator based on dribbling water. Also see the INLINE VERSIONELECTROSTATIC MOTOR made from plastic pop bottles.
Who says "static electricity" must remain static, or that it's useless and feeble?Ridiculously sensitive charge detector
Build this simple circuit and detect miniscule levels of electric charge at large distances. Befuddle onlookers with the the "mysterious voice commands" trick by holding it and scuffing your shoes on a rug.Add an electronic linear motor and a magnet track to your simple maglev train. Or even use it to drive a wheeled cart along the track.
You can wimp out entirely, and buy a commercial Van de Graaff Electrostatic Generator Kit. But why not build your own from scratch?
Hints for electrostatic device construction
Building 500,000 volt devices in your basement? Avoid these pitfalls.Electrostatic Loudspeakers
by Mark Rehorst. No magnets, no magnetism, they use voltage-force. Almost like wiggling the air itself.Acid/Base Goldenrod secret
Use a battery to draw red lines on wet yellow paper"Static electricity" experiments with a roll of tape: Sticky Electrostatics
Levitate a magnet dangerously, with High speed rotating copper cylinders.
The Duluc Drypile
A "battery" with so many cells that Electrostatic effects appear.3D E-field viewing bottle
Actually SEE invisible electrostatic fields and magnetic fields by harnessing the amazing powers of Baby Oil.Dangerous experiments with a big capacitor bank
Nobody died from simply reading this. But stay away from actually performing any of these demos.High Powered Ultrasound Shatters water into a fine mist. Collect some in a bowl. Probe it with high voltage, see what happens.
Solving Humidity Problems
Egor! Activate the Dehumidifier Array!ARRAY ELECTROMETER
Build this and SEE electrostatic fields!VISIBLE CURRENT
Build this moving-LEDs device which makes the flowing charges visible in wires. Wouldn't "electricity" be easier to understand if you could SEE it moving?Incredibly easy way to make a 100-amp cable. Around the world, the physics teachers look at this and say "Doh!"
Rotating disk device makes e-fields visible
Idea for dangerous whirling mechanisms which reveal invisible field patterns.
