How a Wimshurst Machine Works

[@matthewanipen2418]

I was about to run away from this video half way through. So many educational vids like this go from simple elementary explanations to quantum physics equations in a matter of seconds. But this video was a steady incline of new information that even I could grasp after a few drinks. Thank you so much for this!

[@phzzxguy]

One of the clearest and best-animated science videos I’ve seen. Fantastic!

[@sciencehour9476]

So finally after 2 years, the video is here!

[@RimstarOrg]

Yup! I wrote a Hackaday article about it last year and that lead me to new ideas that made me try again.

[@daynawithawhy]

@@RimstarOrg Where were you when I was in high school? If you'd been around to explain it then I might actually have passed sciences and physics

[@foodies6649]

Wowww......

[@zp944]

These have existed for like 50 years. If you really wanted to know how they work, you could have just Googled it

[@samancor3271]

And 4 years later it’s still being viewed

[@caiolira09]

Dear Steve, I just wanted to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude for the incredible educational content that you create on your channel. As someone who has always been fascinated by the world of physics and technology, your videos have been an invaluable resource for me in expanding my knowledge and understanding of these subjects. Your ability to break down complex concepts and explain them in a clear and concise manner is truly remarkable, and your passion for these topics shines through in every video you create. I am constantly amazed by the depth and breadth of your knowledge, and I have no doubt that your work has helped countless others, like myself, to deepen their appreciation for the wonders of the universe. Thank you for all that you do, and for your unwavering commitment to educating and inspiring others. Your contributions to the world of science and technology are truly immeasurable, and I feel fortunate to be able to learn from you on a regular basis. With sincere thanks and admiration, Caio Cesar.

[@verdatum]

Going into this video: "Hey, no fair. You've already explained how a Wimshurst machine works" Watching this video: "Oh. Wait. Nevermind. This one is GORGEOUS." Beautiful job. Good editing, incredible animation, loved it.

[@SadamFlu]

thank you so much for all of your hard work to get me to understand electricity on the fundamental level. I really appreciate this channel a lot.

[@claricegr]

Thank you very much for this video! Im from Brazil, and work in Musem of Arts and Trades, in Belo Horizonte. Here have a Wimshurts machine and i needed to understand better how works, and this video helped me so much! I really love it! Perfect explanation, i am sending for all my collegues, thanks!!

[@moschettiflavio3635]

I never thought such a complex subject could be explained so well. Good job Man

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks. It didn't happen often but every now and then I had the time to do a video with a thorough explanation like this. Another is one about how a crystal radio works kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zl6zgZSoiNKqqqc Thanks for watching!

[@festinalente8354]

Thanks for explanation. It is clear and precise. Very amazing and beautiful. Saludos desde España.

[@TechsScience]

It deserves millions of views

[@quantumellon]

Thankyou very much for that informative video on the basic construction of a wimshurst machine. I am an electronic engineer and have always been fascinated by this device ever since childhood when I used to see those old 1950s Frankenstein movies where they had huge ones made to show massive sparks which probably couldn't have been achieved and also jacobs ladder sparks which would have been unfeasable using them. But in all those years even though I understood the principle behind how the charge was accumulated, I never took the time to discover how they actually were constructed. I'm retired now and plan to make a big one with the best insulators I can find and see what I can do with it...

[@notny411]

Probably the best WH explanation I've ever seen! Great job! And thank you! Wow that was good graphics too!

[@micahakervold]

Thank you so so much for taking the time to make this video, and all of the others that you’ve posted!

[@modernmirza5303]

This is one of the best science videos i have seen so far.

[@odysandy]

best explanation ever, when it comes to physics, other dont explain as good as you

[@project-unifiedfreepeoples]

I offer my sincerest gratitude for giving me a greater understanding of this aspect. May peace and prosperity be upon you always.

[@achachm]

So well explained! your animations really help

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks! You've made so many things that I can't remember if you've made a Wimshurst machine. That might be an idea for you.

[@bobthaden4331]

I got my first Wimshurst machine (and a Morris & Lee VDG) from Edmund Scientific about 50+ years ago. I've have many books and seen this explanation many times, however your presentation is by far the best I've encountered. Thanks.

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks. When I made it, I set out to make another video which I could be as proud of as my How a Crystal Radio Works video kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zl6zgZSoiNKqqqc They take a lot of work but are worth it.

[@geo21821]

Brilliant explanation - much superior to others I have found on the internet. Ever since I first saw a Wimshurst machine at school, 50 odd years ago, I have been mystified by how it could possibly work. Now I know (I think). Thanks!

[@davidsteele9103]

Ditto! 45 years ago there was one stored in the back of our Science/Physics classroom. I never knew the name or what it was for - thanks for teaching us!

[@738polarbear]

ABSOLUTELY crystal clear SUPERB explanation . BRAVO indeed.

[@Raya_0009]

Please don’t stop what are you doing 🙏 it’s really excellent work 🎩🎩🎩

[@selwild2050]

Impressive. Cette explication est impressionnante de clarté.

[@francishosey551]

I am so greatful for this great video with the perfect balance of explanation and observable reactions happening. Thank you I have only been able to get this with this video

[@udhi-_-]

Awesome explanation, and 3d model!

[@CondensedComments]

Wow!!!! Amazing demonstration, thank you (thank you!) so much for taking the time to do all this! It's so much fun I am so excited to one day build one of these to experiment and play around with they are so cool!

[@whatelseison8970]

Wow! I've come across your videos from time to time and after I saw the one you made about the tea laser a few years ago I checked out most of what you had posted. You never used to really attempt to explain things in this sort of depth and always sort of underplayed your understanding of things. I have to say that your explaining in this video is not only just as good as I expected, but the animations are perfectly synchronized with the script and very clear and well done in their own right. Did you do all the CGI yourself too? In any case I'm very happy to see your channel continuing to mature beyond what was already a fascinating catalog of fun projects and demos. I'm sure the algorithm fairy will bring you at least another 100k subs by 2020 if you keep this up.

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks! I'm glad you like it. I've done a few of these long, detailed explanation videos but I haven't done a lot because, as you can guess, they're a lot of work - 3 weeks fulltime for a single one. But I do enjoy doing them. Another one which I did a long time ago and which you might also enjoy is my How a Crystal Radio Works video kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zl6zgZSoiNKqqqc And yes, I do all the CGI too using Blender, a free 3D modelling and animation software.

[@Mysteria9]

Fantastic explanation and illustration, thank you!

[@rodmilne9336]

fantastic explanation mate. For all those who don't get it ... its all about shed tech, when high tech was something you could build in your shed! Today high tech is microchips and programming ... difficult to build in my shed!

[@eugenehvorostyanov2409]

Perfect explanation. Thank you, sir.

[@cees1910]

Great video , as always. Keep the voor work up , for all oud Young people and alderly who want to learn

[@fidelcatsro6948]

wow learnt a new word today: ...alderly!!!

[@fidelcatsro6948]

Hey Amigo nice to see this video again...the Wimshurst video you made last time was one of the best !! I even tickled you to make an '' N machine '' after that i remember!

[@RimstarOrg]

That's strange. You're the second person to say they've seen another Wimshurst machine explanation by me but this is the first time making one that I can recall. I made a start a few years ago but didn't get past the intro. As you can imagine, it was a monumental amount of work. I also wrote a Hackaday article but that's all.

[@fidelcatsro6948]

yes i do agree this video was the epitomy of explanation about this device!! well done!

[@aero_pilot923]

wow really good explanation! I've always wondered how that worked. I've heard in the invention of X rays, the Wimshurst was used to generate high voltage for the first X-ray tube - still somewhat in its experimental stage

[@svenpetersen1965]

Great explanation and awesome animation. Well done!

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks!

[@jonni2734]

You explained it pefectly!!! Awesome video!!

[@enmanuelbencosme1031]

Amazing explanation

[@anisotropicplus]

Great video and description!

[@ian6083]

Such a great explanation. Thank you very much!

[@peterismobiel]

Excelent explanation!

[@chrisb9841]

Outstanding, excellent! Thank you very much!

[@andrewdarley8988]

In the 1950s my father had one of these which he was storing in the loft until he thought I was old enough to appreciate it. Unfortuneately it got broken in a house move when I was 10 so I never saw it work or understood what it was all about - very glad to find out 65 years later. PS he also had a Telsa coil which survived and gave me a lot of experimental pleasure

[@emils-j.3586]

Brilliantly explained.

[@mrjohnson4970]

I thought this was great. Thanks so much for the video. Trying to get an old one working that was found disused in a back room at our school, dreadfully corroded by acid fumes and its leather belts were rotten. Further, it looks as though someone was modifying it back in the 70's and didnt complete the job. An interesting rebuild.

[@mysticalsoulqc]

the fact that you explained all that is crazy. you are a miracle man. Crazy gifted. lol omg lol

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks! It took a long time before I came up with how to explain it well, but I really wanted to do another "work of art" like I did with my crystal radio explanation kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zl6zgZSoiNKqqqc.

[@Mr3344555]

One thing my father told me, is if someone is better than you, you learn from them. I'm subscribing :P you god damn savant!

[@calcaware]

That was a lot more detailed than I was expecting. Thank you.

[@AnthonyFrancisJones]

Brilliant explanation of a simple looking piece of apparatus but not one that is easy to explain in a hurry!

[@madsencc]

Excellent video. Best and most thorough explanation I've seen. Thank you.

[@johndoe-bq1xt]

Hello again Mr. RimstarOrg ! , Sir, I think I sort of solved the sector scraping problem. My Wimshurst Machine used four metal spikes to collect the charges. Two for one side and two for the other side. I just took a pair of pliers and removed them and replaced them with some aluminum tape shaped like a flat point that brushes up against the disks BUT wouldn't dig into them like the spikes did. Sir, after solving another problem I had I have to say that I have waaaaay better ESD than before. Its like the day I first got the machine. Good as new ! Okay, now I'm going to see if I can make a Wimshurst Machine FROM SCRATCH! The one thing this improvement to my Wimshurst Machine has taught me is that I should NEVER be afraid to experiment scientifically with Ideas and things ! If I can make a Wimshurst from scratch then I can make multiple units and drive them all with one dc motor and interconnect them with gears. At that point, "Skys' the limit" because I will be able to generate any amount of high voltage. I thank you sir for your videos, they're really helpful in mullng thins over in my mind. I hope I can talk like this with you from time to time, thank you again.

[@monkeydreammonkeydo6612]

Great video with very clear graphics. Thanks for creating and sharing this!

[@shabadooshabadoo4918]

Wow, great video! thank you!

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks! Thanks for watching it!

[@daroniussubdeviant3869]

nice. that really helped me understand. thank you.

[@flommefelix]

im here because of a band with the same name as the maschine but that was a wonderful lesson perfect midnight knowlege thank you!!

[@carolineee359]

Thank you for your great video!

[@arnavkumar3060]

I like how you used a capacitor to represent the spark gap.

[@Brassmonger]

No one has explained it so good before.

[@TubeNotMe]

Great! Very clear and thorough presentation. I like to know the principles behind the function of things like this.

[@kshitijkumar4118]

Nice video sir... Very easy to understand.. Thank you

[@jeecodetv]

wow this is awesome! i'm planning to buy this one for my lab.

[@Markoul11]

Excellent video presentation! I've subscribed to your channel.

[@jaydencrimsoneverett6731]

This is amazing, Thanks for explaining this marvellous piece of machinery, It helps my research.🙏👍👍

[@norvusordoseclorum]

Excellent content. Love the detailed animations

[@wesperes]

Great! I've finally got the idea.

[@jimdelsol1941]

Wow, incredibly well made video and very informative. Thank you very much !!

[@christiankandzia4884]

nice video it helped me to understand the aparatus, thank you very much! but one thing is missing a bit. the charge at the opposite sectors must become continuosly higher because otherwise it would not accumulate in the leyden jars. the fact that at the beginning it have only ONE sector charged and it influences charge separation at TWO sectors on the other plate makes the over all electric field stronger. this two charged sectors then rotate further and influence even stronger charge separation on the other side sectors and so on. so the charge separation effect adds up every time the "new/higher " charge meets the opposite neutralizer, and therefore charge becomes alternately higher on the front side and back side and cycles clockwise and anticlockwise.

[@RimstarOrg]

That's correct. The charge on the sectors builds but quite a bit. The limiting factor is the leakiness of the sectors. In the dark, they glow with corona at their sharp edges and with corona between them. You can also smell ozone. If you don't collect at least some of the charge at the collectors then it becomes hard to turn the crank due to the strong attraction between the opposite sectors which in turn is due to the amount of charge on them.

[@christiankandzia4884]

Thats impressive. I would Not think that you can feel the force on the crankshaft Wow

[@CurtWelch]

I must be slow. I don't understand how this generates a charge and why it keeps growing. All I see in the description is a lot of capacitors and wires holding charges. If you put a charge on a capacitor and then start connecting it to other capacitors the charges move and distribute but they don't grow in magnatude. They just keep getting smaller as you spread the charge over more capacitors. I can grasp how this acts as a charge "sorter" so random starting charges get sorted by the action of the neutralizer bars moving charges. But I don't get how those sorted charges can ever exceed the total starting charge. So what is the mechanism that causes the the charge to grow larger in this device? I understand the mechanical motion of the device is the source of the energy generating the charge but I don't grasp how this works. And why are the collector's pointed air gaps? Why not use another wire and brush to collect the charge? And what keeps the charge in the liden jars from returning to the disk? I don't understand why there is a one-way flow at work there.

[@ChipperTheChipster]

My friend is convinced that this device can be used as a source of free energy. "I can harness this, regulate it, and then​ store it so it can later be used to chrage my batteries!" Im not sure how to explain how that is not exactly likely. He feels he just has to start it and walk away. Then come back to full batteries. That isnt true is it?@@CurtWelch

[@ultimateenergizerguide467]

The Testatika generator belongs to the group of electrostatically influenced machines, which have been developed since the 19th century, most notably the Wimhurst machine in 1880. In Switzerland, Europe, late 20th century, 1990s, the Swiss corporation Methernitha is said to have developed a self-powered generator (powered by its own feedback energy) in the form of a circuit. electronic. The Testatika generator is a self-powered generator, with the initial starting voltage being generated in the manner of a Wimhurst machine.

[@Zanka06]

What a great explanation! Thanks.

[@alirahimi7953]

This was awesome thanks

[@pici24]

Nice video, good explanation ! Thank you for sharing !!

[@Michel-Uphoff]

Great video, excellent explanation. But you have forgotten to clarify an important point: How does the tension in the Leyden jars continue to increase? After all, the electrons in the increasingly negatively charged jar must repel the electrons from the collector at some point, unless the tension at the collector keeps increasing to overcome this hurdle (and vice versa for the positive charges). The explanation for this phenomenon is hidden in the capacitor formula's: The two opposite sectors (one positively charged and the other negatively charged, in your video the ones at twelve o'clock ) together form a capacitor with a certain charge. The well known capacitor formulas are: C = εA/d and C=Q/V. Rewritten: Q/V=εA/d. (The capacity C, Farads drops out of the equation) The permittivity (ε), the surface area (A) and charge (Q) do not change (no leak assumed). Now that those two sectors at twelve o'clock are rotating away from each other, the mutual distance (d) does increase sharply. As a result, the (negative) voltage (V) across this capacitor must increase accordingly, and is always higher (lower) than the voltage across the Leyden jar. In theory, if there were no discharge at all (which is impossible) , the tension between the two jars could rise to infinity. I built a Wimshurst machine myself a few years ago. Maybe I will make a nice video with a detailed explanation concerning the build and theory. In the mean time you can see it sparking here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6Opp5Rne9J3ns0

[@anthonyvolkman2338]

Excellent description!!!!!

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks!

[@EngrAhmedMahdy]

Awesome video

[@МаксПетров-ц1р]

3:41 why ALL negative charge goes to lower sector? For charge is better to be split between upper and lower sectors? Isn't it?

[@RimstarOrg]

At 3:34, the negative charge in the sector shown at the top repels the negative charge to the lower sector. That's what's really doing the repelling. The amount that will be repelled depends on how negative charged that top sector is.

[@michaelcollins4665]

Hi, Can static electricity be harvested and used for high power use ?

[@RimstarOrg]

In my experience, no. There isn't usually much power available when you generate static electricity. When there's a spark there is but then you have to wait to build up for another spark which makes it not much power overall. Regarding this Wimshurst machine, the power output will always be lower than the power you use to turn the crank. And since Wimshurst machines have a lot of losses, they're also not very efficient.

[@michaelcollins4665]

@@RimstarOrg Thank you . Do you think that " spark" would bust the water molecule ?

[@RimstarOrg]

I don't know.

[@saskoilersfan]

Yes ..see : star ship enterprise and ghost Buster rigs.

[@saskoilersfan]

@@RimstarOrg wimshurst USS Enterprise design . Wimshurst ghost Buster rigs designs. Wimshurst used in Welles time machine. In reality they don't use. Only in fantasy.

[@ahoybruw9517]

At 7:20 schematic, why are the Leiden jar capacitors connected in series? Shouldn't they be in parallel instead?

[@RimstarOrg]

Nope, they're connected in series. The two outer cylinders are connect together. If you follow the polarity of the charge, the inner cylinder on the left in the animation is negative, so the outer cylinder on the left is positive, that makes the outer cylinder on the right one negative which makes the inner cylinder on the right positive. You can follow the capacitor plates I've drawn at 7:20 in the same way, the leftmost plate is negative, then the opposing plate for that one is positive, that makes the left plate of the capactor on the right negative which makes the rightmost plate positive.

[@Martin3m]

THANKS !!

[@raviudayjadhav6930]

Nicely explained

[@АртемСос-й8ж]

Thanks for explanation.

[@kroetzz]

Thanks from Brazil. So... why do you need the Leyden jars instead of solely conect the colectors to the spheres?

[@RimstarOrg]

The Leyden jars are for getting bigger sparks. They collect additional charge so that when the spark gap breaks down, the spark will have more charge (current) and so will be bigger and brighter.

[@Ian-k6z]

Hello, could I make a static wand with one of these, like a plastic wand with a static field around it?

[@RimstarOrg]

Will this do kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnPbaYNqetuMgqM ? It's handheld, but bigger than a wand. :-)

[@abdeljalilpr2033]

The best device explaination

[@two_number_nines]

Great video! Would it work if the brushes have higher surface area and are very close to the sectors, but not touching them tho?

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks! I recall seeing some with contactless brushes. I don't recall what the brushes looked like though.

[@maxximumb]

Another great video.

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks.

[@CHIEF_Games]

SO well done!!

[@moneyaccount9775]

Great video

[@eternalray8194]

Hello, when you said, on the other side only the negatives can move and are attracted by the positives charge of the opposite sectors and in the video we saw only the negatives leaving away (which makes sense) of the negative and positives charges. Just wondering could some of these charges be the negative charge that arise from the opposite sector being negative thus making this side negative as well due to the induction effect be some of these charges in addition to the previous (positive and negative plates)?

[@RimstarOrg]

Hi, I was able to follow your question right up to before "as well due". Before that point, the answer is yes. That's what I was trying to describe. What do you mean from the "as well due..." and onward? You can see how this is hard to put into words!

[@eternalray8194]

@@RimstarOrg thanks for reply Rim,1. Is the charge state of the opposite disk where you explain opposite disk have different sectors charges? Does it have for example all negative charge on all of its sectors. Or all neutral both positive and negative? My guess is a mixture or random charges as you state in the beginning but clarification would be great. I said as well because I didn’t think only neutral charges would be the only thing that exist where the Induction effect would take place where a be one disk and b opposite disk, if a sector has negative charge it will eventually make its mirror sector of b be negative as well due to induction effect. Lastly I want to say that I loved your videos and you explain and clarify the most confusing fundament al subjects at least for me. I am 100% the wrong one here I’m just throwing out there for education these questions mad respect sir hoping for more videos soon it’s been awhile since you made some an idea I think would be to explain ground I still don’t get how ground work but I see you confidently working with ultra high voltages and current confidently knowing 100% you will be safe I don’t yet lol or maby you are studying higher subjects?

[@Dark_Matter2]

Great video ☺️

[@philoso377]

Nice presentation. Let me understand the operation enough to ask questions. Why the capacitors continues to take charge and not saturate? or will the charge in capacitor flood back into the next charge carrier?

[@AbdalaziemeOmar]

great question

[@duanecjohnson]

Hi RimstarOrg; I have to comment a bit about where the energy is obtained to cause the separation of the charges and generate such high voltages. The separation doesn't come about for free! Work must be done to do the separation. The plates on the disks form capacitors, "variable capacitors". 1. The plate pairs when initially charged have relatively high capacitance between each other. The energy in this capacitor is E=(CV^2)/2. 2. The capacitance of this capacitor is inversely proportional to the distance between the plates. 3. As the disks rotate the capacitance deceases between the plates. Since the charge in this capacitor is constant the voltage increases the further they are separated. It takes mechanical work to oppose the attractive force between the plates. This work converts relatively low initial voltages to substantially higher voltages. Note! Power is Voltage * current, W=V*A. The initial plate charging current is the same as the current being collected and delivered to the Leyden jar. But, since the voltage is much higher the delivered output power is much higher then the initial input power. The added power is caused by the mechanical work expended in turning the disks. redrok@redrok,com

[@overunityinventor]

How much watts (voltage and current) does it produce every second?

[@RimstarOrg]

That's hard to answer. The voltage really depends on the distance at the spark gap. I did read somewhere that the current at the collectors is around 10 microamps or less though. Of course, if you have a spark then the spark contains a much higher amount of current over a brief time.

[@DCJNewsMedia]

How much power does it generate. Enough for a AAA battery, or for a cell phone, or can a 12 volt battery be charged 🤔 If for a 12 volt battery 🔋, how long to change it up from 7 volts to 12.5 ...??? Excellent video. Ty so very much. Good voice and gate in speech. I have a little bit of electronics knowledge but more basic and a tiny bit more in a few areas . I took electronics in high school and been around a few guys who know it really good. But I just have not retained it over the years. Old part now and slower these days. I love energy and renewable energy, especially. I did know a man many years ago that was Nick Teslas lab aid and associate who showed me things beyond belief, but he demonstrated them. He had a few photos of him and Tesla and some papers they worked on. He was real. The man was a little over 100 at the time I met him. He really liked me. I liked him a lot as well. He passed on at 112 years of age. That was over 20 years ago. He was a church decon since about 1942, I believe his church certificate said. So again ty so very much for sharing this knowledge ❤️ with us.

[@RimstarOrg]

It's not really intended as a power generator. I takes the mechanical energy of turning the crank and turns it into electrical energy with an efficiency of only a few percent.

[@DCJNewsMedia]

@@RimstarOrg ty so very much ❤️

[@rainmanferguson]

@@RimstarOrg it was designed to create high voltages but power requires amperage also and it has very little of that as in Micro amps. I recently used it to power the tesla hairpin circuit or stout bar experiment with some wonderful results. But that being said i have not tried to hook a step down transformer to it to increase the amperage pulse when the gap fires..

[@yaren_]

Thank you so much!

[@gristlevonraben]

Super video!

[@HunzolEv]

Am I right in my understanding sir, So the end result of having "split-half'" regions of + and - are as a result of the manually applied charged of one disk eventually replacing all the pr-existing charged states of the other side(As you said all the sectors originally had random charges at the start (assuming no loading charge with thetube)) before the crank was turned and charge was applied? I'm asking this because we know - repel - but does + repel +? or am I misunderstanding how the loaded charge moved to the other disk? Thanks

[@RimstarOrg]

For the most part, the charges don't move from disk to disk. They move among the sectors on each disk. For example, at 3:36 you can see negative charge moving from one sector to another sector on the same disk. Similarly at 4:20 for the other disk. I said "For the most part" in the above paragraph because the movement of charge that happens at 8:13 is going from collector to collector and since each collector faces both disks, that can cause the charge to be redistributed between the disks. You're right in that - repels - and + repels + but as I point out at 0:58, only the - electrons can move. The + protons can't move. But + and - attract each other. That's why throughout the video and at the times I point out above, you see only the - charges moving. The total charge does not move from disk to disk though. At 9:02 you can see that each disk ends up with some of its sectors being positive and some being negative.

[@HunzolEv]

@@RimstarOrg Thanks for detailed reply, dang it I did not catch that they moved across the other disk via the collectors.. last question, I have been trying to make the Wimshurst and have yet to be sucessful. Do the twin disks have to be touching and be fairly close, is the distance of the disk important, Im not sure if that contributes to charge movement. Your replies would mean great deal to me thanks.

[@RimstarOrg]

You want the disks to be as close together as they can be without having arcing or too much leakage around the disk. Close together it good since the closer they are, the stronger the induction (attraction and replusion from the charge on sectors on one disk to the sectors on the other disk). If they're too far apart then the induction may not even happen at all! Try manually starting it like I show at 9:09. Damp air also causes problems so drier air is better. You also want to minimize or have no sharp edges (other than places like the collectors) since charge will leak sharp edges and will not be able to build up.

[@zaspanyflegmatyk2446]

good job, thanks!

[@МаксПетров-ц1р]

5:34 in real machine there is a sparks between disk and combs. Is it useful sparks or not? How to explain this sparks?

[@RimstarOrg]

I don't get sparks between he disk and the combs on my Wimshurst machines. If you're getting sparks then that sounds like the points on your combs aren't sharp enough. If they're not sharp enough then charge will build up on them and stay on them, instead of cross the gap a little at a time. That will cause the electric field between them get stronger and stronger until finally the charge bursts across all at once. That's the spark. That's what happens at the spark gap at 7:52.

[@МаксПетров-ц1р]

@@RimstarOrg Thank you for your answer. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ap-ymZ-cmraBobM ... 3:57 is seems this machine can work with only 3 brushes connected to disks. How to explain this?

[@RimstarOrg]

In that case he's likely producing charge from only the side that has both ends of its neutralized bar touching. I say "likely" because the brush for the neutralizer where it's not touching has sharp points and it's possible that that end is interacting a little bit with the disk through ionized air. If you look at a Wimshurst machine in darkness then you'll see the disks glow a lot with bluish corona due to all the leaking charge from the sharp edges involved (on the sectors and the brushes). PS. KZbin flagged your reply as spam, probably because of the link, so I only just now noticed it.

[@psun256]

Hey I know this is an old video, but could you tell me why more foil strips are needed as opposed to fewer large ones? Thanks

[@RimstarOrg]

I think the effect is the same: larger foils = more foils. You don't want the foils too close together though, as that causes leakage from one foil to the next. So spacing is more important there.

[@psun256]

@@RimstarOrg Oh ok. Thanks for the fast reply!

[@psun256]

@@niksa28 Electrostatic energy is really different. And the one from a Wimshurst machine happens to be really low current, like in the micro amps or nano amps, so any energy at those amps are gonna be super high voltages. But it can build up. The more it builds up, the more electric potential there is. So in a Wimshurst machine, it stores it in literally 3 capacitors. Obviously that doesn't add up to a lot of energy, but at such little amperage it will be really high voltage.

[@jheybrent]

Can you remove the "third capacitor" the one that sparks and connect all other capacitors into a battery and turn the current here into any usable energy?

[@RimstarOrg]

Theoretically, yes. The voltage will likely be too high for the battery charging. Also, Wimshurst machines have been known to switch voltages while running -- one collector may be positive and the other negative, and then something happens to the charges on the sectors and all of a sudden the polarities at the collectors reverse. But if you can lower the voltage at the output then some diodes would take care of that.

[@jheybrent]

@@RimstarOrg i kinda want to connect Wimshurst machine into a stirling engine to produce even the slightest useable energy, i wonder if i can do it with that configuration

[@RimstarOrg]

Theoretically it's doable. The Wimshurst machines crank does take quite a bit of torque so you'd need a powerful Stirling engine.

[@PrinceWesterburg]

Brilliant! I never knew they where as complex as that - the ones I played with as a boy in London's Science Museum are all mahogany and brass with most of the workings hidden away. So the one on your bike - could you put a xenon strobe tube across the spark gap and have a headlight that made it look like everything was static? (pun intended)

[@RimstarOrg]

Thanks! You'd have to hide the disks in a casing too, otherwise the spinning disks would also give it away.

[@laurentdelpech6496]

brillant!!

[@iiextraheat3786]

can you build up the individual sparks into one big charge?

[@RimstarOrg]

Yes. You just have to move the two sides of the spark gap (the balls) further apart. That way it'll take longer between sparks giving more time for more charge to build up in the Leyden jars. You'll have fewer sparks but they'll be bigger.

[@iiextraheat3786]

how long can you place them apart until the sparks cannot reach?

[@RimstarOrg]

The maximum spark gap width varies depending on the humidity in the air and other factors such as losses. At some point, the charge build-up on the various parts will get so high that the losses don't allow any more charge to build-up. I've never test what that maximum width would be. I've probably gotten 3 to 4 inch sparks without looking for the maximum.

[@bmid92]

Hello, I'm from Peru, I have a question. How much voltage must there be between the plates before reaching the capacitor?

[@RimstarOrg]

That's a hard thing to answer, or even measure, so I have to say I don't know. Probably it's in the thousands. (Hi from Canada)

[@ToniVarga]

30 kV/cm is breakdown voltage of air, so it's easy to calculate based on the distance between ball ends