More Fun (and Danger) With Plasma Globes

[@bud8168]

I built a vacuum tube tesla coil in my teens, I'm in my 70's now. I got the plasma display effect in a large clear glass incandescent bulb in proximity to the coil. I gripped the top of the bulb in my hand, enjoying the intensifying swirls as I got closer to the top of the coil. It was really boiling when "POP", there was a single yellow streak from the filament to the top of the bulb, then the bulb didn't have a plasma display any more. There was a hole thru the glass into the palm of my hand. It stung a bit where there was a hole in my palm that didn't bleed and didn't close for a while.

[@redoverdrivetheunstoppable4637]

it's also a bad idea to play with a tesla coil discharge using an insulated screwdriver, it often fails the insulated handle bcs of high voltage and it will make an hot arc inside burning your hand, not tragic, but better using an all-metal tool for doing that anyways, only if the coil is LOW POWER

[@rb032682]

@Bud - cool story.

[@klafong1]

RF burn!!

[@scottthomas6202]

I have one similar to the smaller of the two. Never had a shock, or smelled ozone from it. You can get flickers from a CFL by petting the cat on a really dry, cold winter day. I call it the Cat-O-Static generator. Kind of related...high voltage transmission lines run through a cousin's farm. You can walk out on a dark night under it with a fluorescent tube and it will light up. It's dim with " waves" travelling through it. Brightest around where you hold it. Looks like some sort of lightsaber.

[@wallyman292]

Used to stand on top of my neighbor's box truck under HV powerlines and hold up the fluorescent tubes to get them to light up. If one person stood on top and held one end, and another person on the ground held the other, you'd almost be able to light the whole thing. Always kind of wondered how safe we were standing on top of the box truck like that, but I imagine you'd have to be much closer to the lines before there'd be any real danger!

[@Robert08010]

Try to ground one end!

[@thiesenf]

Isn't Nicola Tesla just awesome... he figured out a way to send energy wirelessly through the air...

[@Robert08010]

@@thiesenf Yes, just not efficiently.

[@urdooinitrong7753]

I own an original radio shack plasma ball from the 1980’s. I worked there at the time so I could plug in 10 of them and pick the brightest one. Such a cool toy!

[@ExperimentIV]

now i want to do a cover of she blinded me with science but with one-hit samples of fran saying “science!”

[@shanemcdaniel1509]

Hahaha

[@KD2HJP]

Do do do dooooo

[@Team-fabulous]

Cracking tune...

[@thiesenf]

"Blinded By The Light" - Manfred Mann's Esrth Band... :-)

[@kevinpunk2006]

YESSSSSS!

[@Paxmax]

AAaaah-hahaha! The inner-Fran slipped out in fuill view @ 11:12 ...infectious!

[@FarnhamJ07]

One of my guilty pleasures as a kid was releasing the magic smoke from old junk by removing the circuitry from one of these, and dragging the output wire across stuff to make it pop. Probably wasn't the best idea!

[@jukingeo]

Indeed. I had a 50 volt power supply when was a kid and I hooked speakers up to them to release the magic smoke. The power supply worked with more than with electronics too. One time I hooked a beetle up to it and it TOO released the magic smoke, albeit, it smelled pretty bad.

[@thiesenf]

@@jukingeo As a kid I had a sun and some ants and a magnifying glass at my disposal... after a while I only had the sun and the magnifying glass...

[@rpbajb]

I used to live on the peak of a fairly high hill. During a lightning storm once my flourescent desk lamp turned on by itself. That was freaky.

[@fouquetteaboutit]

"Science, frickin' science man. I love it"

[@n3qxc]

hook your electric guitar to the input of the audio circuit on the large one... then hook your guitar amp input cord to a piece of foil and place it near the plasma ball.... really awesome heavy metal guitar sound..... you may have seen the xenon guitar peddle that uses the same effect.... depending on the oscillator frequency you can produce some interesting effects....

[@rickc2102]

Gamechanger changes the game.

[@ryanmalin]

@@rickc2102 The floor is made of floor

[@astersfun]

Have you considered exploring the old Lumisource plasma lamps? It seems like they had a lot of interesting colors and plasma types. Always wanted to see one on a more realistic setting like your lab. Keep up the awesome work!

[@utp216]

I just love your videos, Fran! You come up with such great ideas/topics to show us and I’m thankful for your time and energy to create these videos! 🤗

[@dant5464]

"When you touch the plasma ball and bring an arc up to your finger it does produce ozone" *BigClive has entered the chat*

[@tweed532]

Hah, he'd be stroking his beard across it for multiple arcs....🤔🤭😖👍😎

[@frankowalker4662]

I was thinking just the same. LOL.

[@chriswilson1853]

7:25 I can confirm, you *can* get an unpleasant shock from the base of a CFL light bulb doing this. Mine looks identical to the larger one you have.

[@louistournas120]

One interesting thing that you can try is turn the globe, I think 180 ° will do. This causes the inside gases to spin for a few seconds. You’ll see the tendrils spin as well.

[@EricTheCat]

When I was a teenager in the mid 90s I got a plasma ball from radio shack. A while after I had it running I thought I was losing track of time until I realized that when it was running it was speeding up the time on my alarm clock. If I put the plasma ball really close to the alarm clock it would run extremely fast. I was utterly amused.

[@Longuncattr]

As a kid I remember doing the air-gap capacitor trick by setting a penny on top of a plasma bulb and using the arcs to etch teeny tiny little marks on the face of the penny with the end of a paperclip. Of course, I was holding the paperclip with my bare hand, so the electrical path went straight through me, so it's good that the bulb in that configuration pulls so little current.

[@rickc2102]

My electronics teacher simply grounded a capacitor on his arm, offered to repeat the experiment with any volunteers, and told us to not do this with a CRT.

[@darthgardner]

Where i use to work we used a small box with a very well insulated probe which had a copper tip it produced 50,000 volts at the tip but with milliamps,it was used to ionise gas filled vaccum tubes and i can say that probe if you got near it gave you a razer sharp jolt on your finger or hand,not sure if it was known as a Hf tester but had a rotary control to turn the juice up.

[@FennecTECH]

Its not just the small globes but larger ones too. Its the cheap/dodgy ones that use cheaper gasses that just so happen to put off UV when ionized. A smaller one from a same reputable brand will most likely not have the cheaper UV emitting gas. You can see the ones that put out UV are a different tone of blue and more blueish.

[@perwestermark8920]

I don't think there are any cheaper gasses. It is probably more a question of type and thickness of the glass. Normal glass blocks quite a bit of UV which is the reason quarts glass is used on the window of UV-erasable EPROM.

[@memyname1771]

About a 1/4 inch piece of foil on the globe was enough to generate an arc from the corner when I got a fingertip too close. I did get a very small but painful burn on the fingertip.

[@Slow.Learner.Devolution]

I had one of these as a kid. I hated the ozone smell. But I used to put bits of metal on top of the globe and arch electricity to my fingers through the air

[@patricklozito7042]

You are really having so much fun with this! All the Best!

[@robertlunsford1350]

The voltage (at least on the big one) can fluctuate enough in the audio trigger that the arcs will dim and brighten depending on the intensity of the input sound. It actually looks pretty cool with music . I slide my phone just under the base and adjust the volume to get the best looking arc activity.

[@ingeweeda]

i just love your curiosity combined with your skills!!!!! as a improvising jazz musician and math nerd, we do have lots of surprising connections! respect!!!!!!!!!!!!! love from amsterdam! x

[@chrispomphrett4283]

I bought a large one in 1991, still running 30 years later... Mind, it should still run, it cost me an absolute fortune but I just had to have something this cool...

[@volvo09]

I remember going to the mall as a kid, watching the massive ones.

[@scottr.hampton2474]

Back in the 70's through 90's when I served in the Army we used to use a small straight fluorescent tube to find leaks in microwave communication wave guides (rectangle tubes) used to go between the transmitter/receivers and the antenna horns. Glowing tube meant seal was leaking. Neat stuff!

[@cookingwithjesus]

I wonder, would that work for a kitchen microwave? I suspect mine leaks because it messes up my wifi when I use it.

[@scottr.hampton2474]

@@cookingwithjesus Yes. A small tube less than 12 inches works best.

[@kpmitton]

Your retinas will be damaged more by infrared than UV or blue light. The Blue light fears manufacturers suggest for devices and screens are quite bogus. Your cornea and lens and protein-filled vitreous humor absorb most ultraviolet light and little will reach your retina. During a solar eclipse when the diamond ring stage occurs, it is the intense infrared light that burns a damaging, eventually permanent, imprint into the neural retina. (Because it is dark, people look and pupil is wide open, and the IR does its damage.) Ken Mitton. Eye Research Institute, Oakland University. :)

[@michaelgraziano8038]

Fran: "I have... very dangerously.... grounded a screwdriver." Me: *casually slides "pointy ground stick" into a drawer*

[@TurboTimsWorld]

At the point you said "do not try this at home" I was wondering if I could find the one in my lock up faster than ordering another one from Amazon ! Go Zero G FRAN ! PS We have 250kv power lines running across the farm, you can stand under them with an energy saver bulb or tube lamp and they light up.

[@luckygen1001]

I tried that with a flouro tube and it did not work, so how close do you have to get so it will light up?

[@TurboTimsWorld]

@@luckygen1001 We have a point on the farm where the lines are a little lower but to be fair with a tube anywhere under them and on a standard tube (strip lamp) you can touch the pins at one end or hold the glass. I'm not fully sure of the voltage of the lines but its all of North Cornwall in England power that runs through it, places like Bude and Newquay,

[@SimoWill75]

Many, many years ago(25 odd) I was gifted a very pretty green and blue plasma ball. A while later the gifter asked for it back, I rarely used it so gave it back. I really regret doing that. Never seen another one like it since.

[@volvo09]

That's neat, i've always wondered about colors... I have a cheap mini one like frans and it's been running for so long that it has turned greenish. Most of the "crazy erratic" movements went away too, it just has a few slow moving "arcs" that wander around lazily. I like it more like this.

[@FraidyZone]

I've always loved plasma globes. One that's a little different that I've always wanted was called "Lightning Storm" by Radio Shack.

[@kane100574]

Illuma Storm, ;)

[@FraidyZone]

@@kane100574 Yeah!!! The Illuma Storm was cool too!!

[@MacTechG4]

Lightning fury, I have one

[@FraidyZone]

@@MacTechG4 😁✌⚡

[@brianborell4469]

I have one of these too. It has the same flyback circuit and 12v wall-wart supply as your big one but is 1/2 the size. It ran @24/7 for about 20yrs at the back of my basement bar.

[@toyfreaks]

In the video, it looks pink enough to have a little helium? In the 1980's, I was talking to a friend on the phone while watching TV. When the show ended, I was too lazy to get up and I shut the set off with my toe. My sock instantly prickled up with a static charge and, like a dumbass, I ran my foot across the screen. I got a whopper of a shock that went out my mouth into the phone handset, killing it instantly. I could see the bright blue arc out of the corner of my eye. Best I can figure, the CRT degaussed out the wrong end?

[@utp216]

Holy Balls!

[@cdorcey1735]

Degaussing is done with a magnetic field, not high voltage, so that wasn't it. What you discovered was that the electron beam that makes the phosphor light up can attract charged dust from the room, and the charge builds up on the glass faceplate.

[@goodun2974]

At 11:50, its a spark-gap transmitter!

[@SpydersByte]

hey Fran, your last video convinced me to go buy the exact same plasma globe :D should be coming in tomorrow, can't wait to show my little nieces, they're gonna love it!

[@redoverdrivetheunstoppable4637]

you can use the small one circuit with whatever gas discharge tube by attaching the HV wire to a contact (or all contacts) of the tube... did that with nixies, fluo, gas voltage stabilizers, flicker bulbs, etc... they also react to the touch

[@kevinpunk2006]

You are awesome Fran!

[@saiskanda]

So that smell was ozone! I had this many years ago and remember a distinct smell everytime I turned it on! Funny to realise what a smell is probably a decade after smelling it 😅

[@UpLateGeek]

Uh oh, you mentioned the "O" word! Not to mention those danger rays. Now BigClive's going to have to get one for his "experiments"!

[@shaunsiz.itsbetterbytube2858]

I have put one on each side of my gate posts on my drive pretty cool at night need some glass globes to cover them to keep them dry

[@KeritechElectronics]

Most fun things are dangerous... I agree. I still remember how I got zapped with 400V DC when experimenting with a magic eye tuning indicator and PY88 booster diode I used as a rectifier. Accidentally touched the PY88's cathode with my forehead while touching something at the ground potential with my hand. Ouch, was I scared!

[@klesmer]

That is a damn healthy spark Fran. I bet that would get some ones attention. If I do it I will get zapped, I'll do it any way. ZAPP!

[@winstonsmith478]

Do those produce significant RFI even without the aluminum? Got a spectrum analyzer?

[@Gamerkat10]

The aluminum was one "plate" there, so without it the RFI should be negligible. Probably why she didn't address it!

[@BRUXXUS]

Your retro sci-fi movie set is really coming together! 🙂

[@rb032682]

The plasma globe I had could be adjusted to have only one "ray" which would travel slowly around the globe.

[@martindejong3974]

You mean you had a working CRT? although going over the front hundreds of times a second isn't what I would call "slow"

[@rb032682]

@@martindejong3974 - I don't know if that would qualify as a CRT. The single 'ray', or plasma jet, or whatever it is called, would rotate about once every two seconds. I think it was always in a clockwise direction.

[@dubsar]

Thank you Fran! I always learn something.

[@Wolfie_Rankin]

Fran, A lot of these lights were used in Science Fiction shows over the years, often on Star Trek which seemed odd because these lights were so well known in real life. But I wondered about the long lights which were vertical and seemed to contain water. Seen in the lab of Data's creator on Trek on one occasion. Could they be a type of Gessler light? Also, do you remember the lights which were sometimes used in 60s clubs which projected colourful oily blobs onto the wall? Also seen on The Tomorrow People.

[@rickc2102]

I just remember one of the larger plasma balls being used in the movie My Science Project

[@Pickleriiiiiick]

I used to cut paper with mine. Use a unfolded paperclip , put paper on the globe, arc across paper and it arc cuts the paper.

[@terryolsson4145]

That is so cool Fran. I want one.

[@JimCoder]

I would predict a cat would initially be fascinated by it but would quickly pretend to be bored.

[@ReedCBowman]

I've found references to much smaller plasma balls - 1.5 or 1.75 inches diameter - but they don't seem to be made anymore. I'd love to be able to get them that size, though. I have a cool project in mind...

[@cbnto]

8:51 that sound wuaaawuaaawuaaa 🤖🤖🤖

[@themaritimegirl]

I had NO idea that these could transfer current outside of the glass ball. Aren't these often sold as toys!?

[@JakesOnline]

I hear a HV hiss. It changes pitch when you touch either globe.

[@doctorwacky5680]

Hey friend, back in the 70s RadioShack used to sell all kinds of gizmos like the plasma ball. There was something they had called a light ball that somehow these little disks would rotate inside that ball when you put light on it, there were some other crazy little things they made that maybe you could find and do videos on was pretty interesting

[@SeanBZA]

I had one of the little ones with a small flourescent circline lamp in series with the inner lead. Dropped it and broke the globe, now looking for a lamp with vacuum fill, the 400W MH lamps do not have enough vacuum to work there.

[@MICKEYISLOWD]

I have been electrocuted from my guitar amp when I touched one of the big capacitors. There was a huge blue flash and I burned my thumb nail which hurt a lot. I thought it would be safe because the amp had been unplugged for over a week but these caps can hold killer loads for yrs. It's a miracle I am still here because if it had crossed my chest I would be fully dead forever. Still own the amp (Carvin Bel Air) as It sounds the most beautiful all tube design.

[@tsobf242]

One fun thing I discovered with these is they can trigger touch lamps, the ones where you just touch the metal base to turn them on. unfortunately my touch lamp and my plasma ball broke. The latter was my fault.

[@8BitNaptime]

I wonder if you can measure the current drawn by the low-voltage supply. If it increases a lot when you touch the globe, you could use that to control instruments, theremin-style.

[@svenpetersen1965]

🤣🤣🤣 Some days ago, I found a plasma ball in my basement. I did not remember, that I had one. I knew the trick with the fluorescent lamp. Then I tried an LED, not really expecting, it would work. It does though. It is required to spread the legs of the LED and the blue LED was the brightest. Red and green worked, too. Some types out of my LED drawer don’t work (probably the less bright, old ones).

[@repeat_defender]

the Franklin Institute has some wicked sweet merch! I really want to go there some day, and to the Mutter. I've never even been to Philly, only P burgh a couple few times, had some fun on the Allegheny.

[@sprocket2cog]

cool, whats the deal with those plasma plates that make flat weird arcs in green and blue etc. ?

[@PrismaxMan]

You should reach out to Wayne Strattman of Strattman Design I think he was the one who sold the patent to mass market these. He still makes HUGE ones for science museums, and he makes all sorts of fantastic plasma art. He is in Massachusetts, an MIT grad I think.

[@ferulebezel]

I've had mine for a couple of years and now it only had 4 blurry tendrils. I'm wondering if it has an imperfect seal and the gas got contaminated with air or if the power supply is failing.

[@FranLab]

If it got 'gassy' from nitrogen encroachment then it's likely producing lots of UV beyond human vision.

[@ferulebezel]

@@FranLab Is that what's happening?

[@wizardofeyes]

@@FranLab The gases inside may also be undergoing "cleanup". Plasma is about the most reactive stuff in the universe, and will gradually attack the inner glass of the globe, causing the tendrils to get thinner as the gas pressure in the globe decreases with time.

[@FrostStalker30]

"I have very dangerously grounded this screwdriver.... *EVIL LAUGH*"

[@danielmkubacki]

I love Plasma Globes! Good video Fran!

[@ianmelzer]

When I was a teen I had one in my bed room that I played with all the time. I would put a penny on it and burn things with the arcs. I also would mess up digital clocks. I could smell the ozone and burning flesh when it burned the skin on my thumb leaving a tiny scorch mark.

[@macro820]

Back in the day I was using a wired headset to talk on my cell phone and the wire rubbed across the a tube tv, the tv energized the headset and shocked me in my ear

[@tedhaubrich]

Rubbing a cfl along a staticy wool or acrylic blanker will also make them glow.

[@davemcgarvie2746]

What about uv-c?

[@TMAC_burninator]

Years ago, I noticed one of these will interfere with a CD player within the same area.

[@WooShell]

Isn't UV going to be absorbed by the glass already? Hence why Eprom erasers etc need quartz glass tubes instead of regular window glass due to its UV transmissivity. I would have been surprised to see any significant amount of UV light coming off that ball.

[@paulbennell3313]

I bought my niece one of the little USB powered globes. I wanted to keep it. I had to give it to my niece. That made me sad. It made my niece happy. There's a lesson here but I can't be bothered.

[@FranLab]

Buy another for yourself. Live a little.

[@ReinoGoo]

Buy two.

[@rougeneon1997]

This is semi related. I have a SSTC and Ive always wandered if nixie tubes would glow near the coil when it is running? The few nixies Ive had for projects I didnt want to damage in testing. ??? YES I love that ozone smell too. Tesla coils really put that smell out lol

[@chrisa2735-h3z]

I wonder what the big ball would do near a CRT TV? I’m very curious about that now~

[@RolandElliottFirstG]

By the look of the prior vid it would have a 15 to 20 KV coming from the core, and the flyback transformer size seems to indicate thus.

[@karlreinke9653]

I also had a Radio Shack version. The only problem was that it really messed with my remote controls. Nothing would work !

[@asn413]

say Fran, what do you get with a magnetometer and emf meter? Also do you think the higher uv units are for blacklight purposes?

[@zh84]

"Science! Friggin' Science! Love it."

[@Bob-Horse]

Gosh, you are so clever Fran, I wish you had taught me.

[@yvanflodin]

i had one of these when i was a kid and now im wondering why i'm still alive... i played with it so many timess with foil, tools, and never thought it was dangerous. guess my house's floor wasnt conductive enough

[@bassmandanmartin3700]

Another great video!! 😀👍👍

[@elektroqtus]

My glasses actually filter UVA, UVB AND UVC!!!! TESTED WITH TV PHOSPOR. Blacklight did its UVA thing and made phosphorus turn blue-green. My UVC battery operated light turned phosphorus pink. My glasses totally could shadow both. No UVB light for me to test. Thanks for the safety tips

[@sn3dg3r]

Hello Curious is indeed fun. If you're going to progress to the next logical step, reanimation, I could be your monster, the best times for me are on mornings after, Saturdays and Sundays could definitely do with a few kV reanimating jolt.

[@garypugh1153]

This is small version of what goes on throught the universe. Electro magnetic vorticies that stretch for millions of light-years rotate together, and when they merge they form galaxies. It seems very fast in the. But as Lerner said in his book "the big bang never happened". ...the universe is nothing more than a " cosmic power grid ". 😊

[@travismiller5548]

Wait... making ozone? That's awesome; I had no idea! I wonder if it is also making NOx 🤔 My idea for saving the ozone layer when I was a kid was to make a big damn kite, strongly teathered, up in high altitude where the winds are insane and more constant. Aboard the kite was to be a turbine to generate a high voltage arc. I wrote the idea off when it occurred to me that NOx would also be produced. Perhaps instead we could also put aboard the world's tiniest oxygen concentrator?

[@ThinkDifferentish]

Wet a paper towel (not dripping wet) and place it on the ball. Now get close to the towel with your fingernail and it will arc over. It doesn't hurt... much. It will also burn the paper towel.

[@SuperMarkizas]

I love Plasma Balls, they're so pretty, but does anyone know if they use a lot of electricity? II'd love to own one, but wiith electricity prices...

[@lexologics]

love it!

[@xsc1000]

There can be one danger thing. When you create the arc, the same high voltage is applied to the power supply transformer insulation. Because the mains part is also grounded. So you can destroy transformer in PSU by this discharge.

[@GMCLabs]

Yeah I've done that before, ya just get a tiny rf burn on your finger. Not nearly as bad as what I got from the output of a combiner. That arc followed my hand as I pulled away. Lol

[@Gamerkat10]

Fran, could you give me some suggestions for safe ones like this? I don't have a UVA/B meter...

[@jmcarp0]

Ok Fran, turn this bigger plasma ball into a plasma speaker, go!

[@JuliePGUK]

Science!, i immediately started thinking of thomas dolby

[@JessHull]

I enjoyed that. I want to get one now!

[@alangunn7254]

This could be a whole new direction for you, Fran! You could be the Philadelphia ElectroBoom!

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

It's not all about the current, it's about the combination of both, voltage and current. You could have a PSU that delivered 300A at 12V, and you could touch it while being grounded with your other hand, and nothing would ever happen - because 12V are too low to conduct through your body.

[@ghostsofVTurbexSkysthelimitvid]

i have a large globe, its cool, goodwill for $12, its still going strong after 2 years

[@justimagine2403]

A geiger counter really clicks and squeals next to my plasma ball. Is this ionizing radiation? Dangerous?

[@brighton1931]

Super cool

[@doctorwatson1000]

You should try that Uncle Fester from the Adams Family light bulb trick