"THE AWESOME POWER OF TELEVISION"
- William Beaty
- aluminum foil on a CRT-style TV screen is an electrostatic power supply
- an electrostatic generator suggested by
Dr. Krienke at SPU in Seattle.
NOTICE: TURNING A TV SET ON AND OFF OVER AND OVER CAN HARM IT! IT
DIDN'T HURT MINE, BUT TWO PEOPLE HAVE REPORTED THAT THEIR SETS DIED.
USE AN OLD, HALF-WORKING TV, OR USE A COMPUTER MONITOR FROM A GARAGE
SALE. OR IF YOU WANT TO TAKE THE RISK, TURN IT ON AND OFF A FEW TIMES
ONLY, AND WAIT FOR SEVERAL MINUTES EACH TIME.
SAFETY - THE TV-SCREEN METHOD IS SAFE, ALTHOUGH THE FOIL AND WIRE CAN
DELIVER SMALL "STATIC ELECTRIC" SHOCKS. THERE ARE TWO OTHER HAZARDS
YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT. ONE, NEVER REMOVE THE CASE OF A TV SET OR STICK
ANY OBJECT THROUGH SLOTS IN THE BACK OF THE CASE, BECAUSE THE POWER
SUPPLY WITHIN THE BACK OF A TV SET CAN ELECTROCUTE YOU. NUMBER TWO:
NEVER PLAY WITH LEYDEN JARS OR HIGH-VOLTAGE CAPACITORS LARGER THAN 50
PICOFARADS, THEY CAN ELECTROCUTE YOU.
The pop-bottle motor requires a "static electric" power supply (in other
words, high voltage at low current.) Batteries won't work because their
voltage is thousands of times too small. Use a TV set with aluminum foil
on the glass.
This method works best with a fairly large TV screen. I found that a 19"
TV screen (measured diagonally) works fine. Smaller screens may give
feeble motor operation, or may not work at all. If you use a little tiny
computer monitor, it might not be able to run your motor. The bigger the
TV screen is, the better.
Use tape to tack a sheet of aluminum foil to the screen of a TV set.
LEAVE A SPACE AROUND THE EDGE, MAYBE 1" WIDE OR MORE, SO THE FOIL
DOESN'T COME NEAR OR TOUCH THE TV FRAME. Also, fold over the sharp
corners of the foil
to prevent sparks from jumping to the frame. It helps to cut the corners
round, with a 1" curve. (If the foil is too close to
the frame, charge will leak across the glass and cause the voltage to be
decreased.)
Use alligator clipleads to connect the edge of the foil to the metal foil
on one of the electrostatic motor bottles. Connect the foil on the
motor's other bottle to ground. (metal faucets and sinks are grounded, as
well as the metal screws on light switches and the screws on electric
outlets. Connect to to one of these.)
When the TV is turned on, the motor will spin a few times then quit. When
the TV is turned off, the motor again spins briefly, then stops. Turn the
TV on and off very slowly to generate slow pulses high voltage, and this
can run the motor continuously. The pop bottle motor always turns in the
same direction regardless of polarity. The bottle motor works best on DC,
but it will run on AC high voltage, like this slow AC from the TV screen
as you turn it on and off.
This method can work even though the sheet of aluminum foil touches only
glass. It is called "capacitive coupling." The foil, glass, and the
conductive phosphor coating inside the TV tube together act as a
capacitor. Capacitors act to block direct currents, but they allow
alternating current to pass. By turning the TV on and off, you are making
the high voltage on the TV screen grow high and low, and the capacitor
lets these changes in voltage go through.
NOTICE: TURNING A TV SET ON AND OFF OVER AND OVER CAN HARM IT! IT
DIDN'T HURT MINE, BUT TWO PEOPLE HAVE REPORTED THAT THEIR SETS DIED.
AN OLD, HALF-WORKING TV, OR USE A COMPUTER MONITOR FROM A GARAGE SALE.
OR, TURN IT ON AND OFF A FEW TIMES ONLY, AND WAIT FOR SEVERAL MINUTES
EACH TIME.
.