Wimshurst machine, One of the World's largest, "first test run"

[@edhyncik8338]

The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago Had a Wimshurst machine with glass disks about six (6) foot in diameter and a 12 inch spark gap.. They kept it chained up and would demonstrate it by request, once a day. Like your's but on steroids. They also had a transformer and capacitor set up with alternating current producing 1 million volt lighting. It would split pieces of railroad tie and made deafening thunder. I do not know if they still have these on display. Haven't been to Chicago in 30 years. Spent many a day cutting school at Science and Industry.

[@GoTorino]

The first part I need to build my 1960 H.G. Wells time machine!

[@mercury90hp]

use fine strand wire..carries multiple surface area charge. 4/0 strand welding cable should do the trick.

[@nunyabusiness7630]

Static electricity is awesome.

[@jessewilson8676]

Could you place a cup full of fine si sand between the shock path. See if it fuses the sand grains together

[@TechnikMeister2]

In 1968 our physics teacher and our yr12 highschool class built one of these. The teacher had this on the big desk in the lab and he fired up the motor and the lights dimmed. We should have seen danger but you don't at age 17. Anyway, the first demo was with the terminals about 4" apart and he got a good thick spark. Time to crank the terminals out to 8". The motor was screaming and suddenly, instead of jumping across the terminals, the left terminal jumped onto his left hand and the other onto his right. This was "back to the future stuff". It all happened so fast but the teacher, Maggots we called him, was shaking and screaming. It was like Dracula's lab. One of the students raced over and unplugged the drive motor. Maggots then fell down between the desk and the blackboard. There was this smoking and sizzling from behind the desk. At this point another teacher rushed into the room and we got maggots from behind the desk and lay him on the floor. He was smoking. All the hair on his arms and chest was smouldering. The current had flowed up the arms and across his chest. What to do? Give mouth to mouth to maggots? No takers. He then opened his eyes and said, "see boys, it will jump 8". He was in hospital for 2 days but now he was a legend, with the other teachers too. It's my favourite memory of school.

[@I_M_Nonno]

Anyone in your neighborhood trying to listen to a AM radio probably hates your guts right about now!

[@TrippedTheFuckOut]

im very new to this stuff! how does the electrostatic generator effect am frequencies?

[@geoffwilson9273]

Black pvc is colored with carbon making it semi-conductive. May want to switch to white for the caps,

[@getredytagetredy]

The Human race needs you...You are the Wonderman from Atlantis...All the best...Rio

[@cryptonein]

@MrTeslonian were you able to use this to generate usable electric? Did you try mixing it with an alternator to multiply efficiency?

[@benconrad805]

it's nice getting to binge all the videos at once. great work!

[@Phil-mt1ql]

What can it do? Why, anything lightning can do. Which is quite a bit. According to Mark Twain - "The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." You don't suppose that you could... sort of...

[@SNLGUY]

On a massive scale I believe it could create an abundance of nitrogen in the air. In turn that nitrogen helps things to grow on earth. Now I am wondering if this could be adapted over individual lawns and gardens to help them grow.

[@tonyennis3008]

Air is already 70% nitrogen.

[@suzesiviter6083]

First great work, second I believe you have one point wrong; the skin effect only applies at high frequency, the probes you point to connect directly to the Layden Jars-therefore DC. To increase spark, you could create bigger jars, reduce jar width, increase plate area, also increasing the ball size would increase storage (as spheres act like a capacitor to high voltage). I would be polishing all metal conductors to prevent ionic losses- remove sharp edges and so on. Those washes at the top of the jars-bad idea-very lossy. Loved your video; thanks for sharing!.

[@MrDilley777]

Amazing stuff there Mr Teslonian!!! Now how do you regulate the voltage to be useful at 120 volts, and why build a machine that makes that much energy when your audience would be better suited to build a smaller one that could power their homes??? Wouldn't that be more practical and useful??? Ingenious stuff for sure, now all we need is a version that could power your home!!!!

[@shadetreetrader1135]

Would like to see how you constructed the Caps

[@maximosh]

What would the current amps be if you stepped down the voltage to 18 volts using a cars ignition coil or a transformer?

[@AmericanJusticeCorp]

Can you use acrylic resin or something like that to fuse the Plexiglass disks together?

[@samhat41]

i just looked at the rest of your videos, brilliant man.

[@rickey5353]

Cool. In freeze frame you can see (for lack of a better term) "leader" sparks reaching out, before the main discharge.

[@johnkuhnphoto]

how do you know that electricity 'flows' on the inside or outside of a conductor?

[@drbachler]

Could you use some sort of crinkled aluminum foil as a conductor to get a large surface area?

[@andrewwilson8317]

What would the discharge look like if it was through different gasses? If it was through a stream of Argon or Helium gas. would the discharge change colour or direction? It always amazes me it does not take the shortest route but ionises a jagged path? Why is this? Is air made up of varying ratios of gasses? Maybe air is not as thoroughly mixed together as we think but has pockets of oxygen and nitrogen?

[@suzesiviter6083]

I have not heard any reasonable explanation of why lightning is jagged, but we see the same patterns on earth when looking above at rivers, of course trees, roots.

[@Anonymous01959]

What do you get when you zap someone with a Wimshurst machine? A Wimshurst scream.

[@georgieippolito9924]

since static runs trough the surface wouldn't it be better off using copper pipes instead of wires? with pipes you got the service areas on the outside and inside of the pipe.

[@rmarsh9997]

Ive noticed that the majority of the plates are made with aluminum foil or thin plates.Would it be feasible to use copper sheets or plates ,and silver coated wire to carry the charge to the capacitor bank? Im new to this machine and theory of air electric static charge.Any info is greatly welcome.Awesome homebuilt machine..

[@richardmorris4432]

It looks like a smaller version from the one in Frankenstiens lab....interesting tho ...What is separating the wheel...(the plexi)?

[@martinramirezjr7872]

Hey have you considered incorporating a flywheel into this?

[@MrTeslonian]

Good idea!

[@kodyfrost]

what if you use a tube instead of a rod? potentially double your surface area with out increasing the actual size

[@DanielV8OpelPower]

how about using a 0gauge soft core wire splitted and taped around the rods in that way you will have a surface area inside and around each core of the splitted wire?

[@FjHenderson]

You could search old high frequency tube mill parts. The old ones with the oscillator tube used some really big capacitors. Most now use mosfets instead of the tube.

[@deepinthought469]

for an interesting effect try putting some rare earth magnets in the area of the spark gap, or drive a resonant circuit like a Tesla coil backwards step down and charge battery, etc...

[@suzesiviter6083]

Putting a magnet there would just bend the sparks.

[@jasonpettit5688]

wrap the rods with copper wire.will that help hold the charge

[@akbychoice]

I've seen rubber band static discharge machines that throw one heck of a spark.

[@Funkylogic]

Enjoying you vids wondering if you could not use plastic drain pipe with alarm tape wrapped around it, its not silver but its not bad either. With the feeder you have could also brighten up the surface layer then spray it down with lanolin. The old radio guys used to use silver because silver oxide has almost the same skin effect properties.

[@stewartflannagan3734]

would polishing corrosion off rods help?

[@petergambier]

I guess you now know how Mr Tesla must have felt. Just a question,would it be possible to make a 2 million volt spark or higher? Also,how do you know this particular one is a million volts?

[@planetbob4709]

I love watching your videos. I don't know what this one was all about but it was still interesting. My questions is with all the tinkering you do...has your household benefited from any of it? Have you put any thing into a practical application? I really like your vids about ram pumps and trumpes. I can imagine all kinds of practical uses with this.

[@williamm.6912]

2.5" refer tubing gives excellent results but b sure to use the "red" fiberglass board from transformers instead of the wood which draws and holds moisture ( all of which can b had cheaply at the local junkyard), also tempered glass table tops from cheap walmart backyard tables work excellent for your stator

[@michaelmaskell5363]

what happens if you use tube for your conductor, will you get a charge on the inside surface of the tube as well as the outside ?

[@MrTeslonian]

Gauss' Law is used to find the electric field strength when the charge is evenly distributed on or within an object such as a sphere, cylinder, or flat plane. Gauss law is the first step in understanding all four parts of Maxwell's equation. The next one I would read is Faraday's law, This will answer your question and help you understand the science better. The short answer is the edge of the tube were it rolls from inside to outside will create a point of loss and constantly leak charge as plasma, all sharp edges and points or ridges will create a point of loss.

[@michaelmaskell5363]

Thanks

[@JeffreyVastine]

Have you tried using Lexan i.e. polycarbonate instead of plexiglass?

[@ChrisD755]

I'm so impressed by this machine and its creator, along with the technical comments below, even though I don't understand a thing you're all talking about!! (%\) Thank God for your technical minds!!!!

[@swayback7375]

You need to get in touch with the slow mo guys or someone else that has access to high quality, high speed cameras yo really capture the glory of this! I been with a high resolution and high frame rate, every spark would be beautiful! I'd love to see that! Just the quick flashes you caught ate great but being able to watch the entire thing, stretched out into minutes for each spark, I could watch it for days... every spark would different and unique... this needs to happen!

[@MrTeslonian]

Well said, I would also stare at those films for days, much like looking at the hundreds of stills I captured. Thank you.

[@swayback7375]

+MrTeslonian I'm sure each one is unique so being able to watch these sparks form and the entirety of their existence would just be stellar! High speed camera tech is moving really fast, I'm sure you can find someone with access to one that would capture this good enough, I'd guess to really get exceptional footage you'd need an exception camera, but access to them is greater now than ever!

[@JustinJJHCS1]

what about hooking up an Electrostatic motor to run the Wimshhurst Machine

[@victororo462]

Is the spark using water and dust particles to jump across? just wondering. The charge needs the rod to travel through. So doesn't the spark need something as well?

[@acompletelynormalhuman6392]

It's weird how well watching Sparks demonstrate rolling shutter

[@cosmovedder1354]

So exactly how far back in time can this machine take me?

[@nimnimlight]

How much could it contribute to running an electric motor that turns it?

[@TheGoodVibrations]

MrTeslonian - what camera (FPS) did you film the spark with to get the stills of the spark so clear and clean (at manifestation and connection)? If it is not a high speed (slow motion camera) - have you tried filming the spark with a Slow Motion camera? I am trying to film the spark on my Lord kelvin's Thunderstorm experiment. I get the spark on camera - but I am trying to get video / picture stills of the spark from manifestation through dissipation. Any suggestions without spending 1K on a camera?

[@MrTeslonian]

60 frames a second sony camcorder.

[@TheGoodVibrations]

Thanks!

[@PuzzleCollege]

No two arcs are the same. It's almost like a natural oscilloscope between the two terminals - each instance of visible electricity exhibiting characteristics of the particular charge that impelled it. I'm a little out of my element here, but I'm willing to guess that the more precise or consistent the generation, the more predictable the waveform of the spark should be?

[@Leviathan15s]

Wouldn't a large area surface conductor just lose charge into the air?

[@jeffersonian000]

If you put a funnel pointed at the spark, and run a conducting wire straight up, you have a DIY spark-gap AM radio station. You speak into the funnel while it's sparking, and the sound waves will heterodyne on the radio wave you are producing with that generator.

[@etolsengmail]

After watching the video I became curious to know if changing the environment around the spark points, perhaps a vacuum, would the spark shape be more consistent, e.g. straighter?

[@MrTeslonian]

Yes in a vacuum the spark acts very different in that in has nothing to inhibit it's trajectory or interact with electromagnetically based on there either positive or negative charge.

[@stubee52]

And that shows as what, plasma cloud or undulating smoky stream?

[@ПавелГрешных]

How can surface static charge end up in a regular isolated conductor? Does it travel over isolator?

[@jasonmendez4411]

why hasn't anybody recreated the time machine chair from the movie... honestly that spinning disk is the basic means of the chairs electromagnetic field that allows the chair to levitate

[@Normjohanson]

Can you spline it to increase the surface area?

[@christopherszymberski790]

what about rifling the outside of the rod, to create more surface area?

[@MrTeslonian]

Once again Guass law comes into play, the surface must be smooth and without any ridge or edge or there will be loss.

[@christopherszymberski790]

+MrTeslonian yes you are right. dealing with the perpendicular projection of the electric field, the rifiling would not work. I wonder though if there is not some possible work around that would limit the necessity of larger and larger rods.

[@MrTeslonian]

Christopher Szymberski Stranded wire like a HV power line is able to provide surface area with limited loss. Carbon nano tubes hold a promising ability to carry charge based on they have more surface then internal volume.

[@discoverrealityclover9620]

+MrTeslonian Please may l ask, what is the precise mathematical definition of the relationship with surface area in this case? And what is the maximum effective surface area?

[@marjamada]

Stumbled upon your cool video again and see that I was hear last year and commented. If a larger rod is required, I suggested flat metal. Now I'm thinking why not use a pipe, if all you need is surface area. Instead of copper rod, why not copper pipe?

[@royjenkins5266]

If you powered it with a creek or stream you could make a bad ass electric fence!!

[@richardturk7162]

And what are you going to power with this generator?

[@notny411]

I built a smaller wimshurst machine and when my spart gap gets too large it begins to arc between the comb and the sectors. Any idea why? Cool vid by the way.

[@dallyjacobson2146]

Why can't you use multi-strand copper cable?

[@TalkingGIJoe]

Copper tube instead of rods?

[@jeffeloso]

The Royal Institution of Great Britain in London used to have on display a really huge Whimshurst machine. Is this the one built in 1885 and now at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry?

[@MrTeslonian]

Are you asking if the one from Chicago is the one from the UK? Or if the one in the video is from 1885?

[@jeffeloso]

Thank you - my question was meant to be is the one in Chicago the one that was built in the UK in 1885, and previously housed at the Royal Institution? I remember seeing it there in the entrance hall about 18 years ago.

[@MrTeslonian]

alochrome That I don't know!

[@jamesfackenthal]

You are correct about the electricity moving over the surface of the rod you are using. However, if you were to use stranded copper wire instead of the material you're using, you would have a far better conductor than a solid wire of the same diameter. because the multiple strands will have far more surface aria than a solid wire. as each strand will allow the electricity to move over it. That's one of the first things you learn in any basic electrical training course .

[@chadreifsnyder9980]

Just an idea and current technology should support this. Try using a metal 3D printer and making a copper spiral. If properly spaced this should maximize the surface area for the transfer to the capacitor bank. In addition to this you could also add additional capacitors in series or parallel (or both) to test the effectiveness in generation of your current and voltage.

[@robertsatterthwaite8958]

nice project MrTeslonian, i would think stationary fingers attached to the frame could be used to keep the discs properly aligned. again, nice work.

[@MrTeslonian]

Good idea, In the end I built new discs made out of 1/4" and 1/2" Plexiglas. These were much less susceptible to temperature and had a higher kappa creating a more powerful machine. The next one is bigger and will take some time to build because it's cost is 4 times the smaller unit's, the one in the video cost $1,200 to make this one is going to be closer to 5 or 6 thousand by completion.

[@WalkerKlondyke]

What about using copper tubing for the discharge rods? You'd get nearly double the surface area without having to increase diameter.

[@jamesmarkstahler7604]

I believe that might spark internally to the tube and reduce the overall charge.

[@WalkerKlondyke]

Fill them with some sort of insulator?

[@stubee52]

That would do nothing and solve a problem that does not exist. Insulting the inside of a pipe from what? The electron flow is on the surface. Radio and microwave techs call it 'skinning'.

[@Pappylaz]

Ever work with RF wave guides? The signal runs on the inside of a hollow transmission device.

[@stubee52]

Pap Yota True. That is RF E/M field traveling down the guide. I would think that HV electron flow would skin the inside like the outside. But there may be a magnetic field or counter eddy currents generated blocking it. If it does work then you have effectively (cheaply) doubled your current flow capacity. Don't know. Drop a rare earth magnet down a copper pipe and see that counter currents and their generated magnetism causes the magnet to fall slow.

[@getredytagetredy]

The pulleys are also known as "sheaves" but pronounced shivs...on cranes for picking weight

[@noahoscarson3006]

try using some top rail off of fence for your rods

[@biguglytrux]

didn't ben franklin make this wit a glass disc? it was smaller than the one you built but considering how heavy glass is and you were musing how to put a flywheel into the works maybe glass could work

[@MrTeslonian]

I wanted glass but the local window glass shops were not equipped for drilling glass, so I went with Plexiglas.

[@philipvernejules9926]

.....iteresti g about static travelling along surface only , it makes sense . Very high frequency across also travels along surface of conductors also. Litz wire found in plates of induction heater stoves are litz wire. I have a feeling the litz wouldn't improve things much for static situation .

[@haroldplaut2614]

What about epoxy the two plates together?

[@poppypuppy5372]

Perhaps because they need to rotate in opposite directions?

[@greetswithfire1868]

If you did that you would probably have a time machine! It almost looks like one now.

[@davidbostock6776]

maybe use glass plate for capacitors? Could try putting foil on the face of a mirror. The reflective film against the glass is painted on it's back. I think the reflective material is probably a conductive metal.

[@flhusa1]

can you use bigger corona balls to make it more efficient? has anyone tried cones instead of balls to to pinpoint the energy?

[@JohnRidersoldoutforjesus]

What does it feel like if you put your finger in it????

[@YansaMusic]

If Tesla was right and we live in an electric universe, then those stills at the end kinda make me think Planet & Sun. Fascinating. Thanks for posting.

[@MrTeslonian]

Interesting observation in that you relate the sun as a cathode and the earth or planets as anodes.

[@myacrylicjourney624]

So how do you make use of that emery?

[@walterbennetsen9848]

that's spark what is it made of superheated plasma

[@nationofgandhis]

hemp plastic?

[@timothyaaron8603]

how hard is it to turn?

[@docstephens8107]

MrTeslonian, Do go to 1.00 inch solid stock, but flute it. 16 cuts lengthwise .25 inches into the surface should increase your surface area sufficiently. -Doc

[@Belmior]

plastic water pipe with aluminium cover then?

[@marcocruz6859]

If I was you, I would connect a Piece of neon sign.. it would light really nice! and the discharge will be much more even... really nice work young man....

[@MrTeslonian]

Good idea, you know calling a 40 year old young makes you really old;) Thank's for watching.

[@josetorres3166]

amazing video for the home inventors

[@landlockedviking]

tubing no? rod is not needed . Have you ever tried using foil, like a copper foil wrapped on pic? Love the what looks like oil cup pics at the end!

[@Audion]

I know it's 4 years later, but a higher shutter speed on the camera would have been helpful.

[@fishrod6298]

Awesome work man

[@rvnmedic1968]

Not sure why, but the video was very difficult to watch. Red and Green colors, reflections, etc. Hard to tell what was going on. Vid quality was set on 1080p. I tried lower settings but no luck. ?

[@MrTeslonian]

I'm trying to get it fixed, if you would try watching the video again and in the lower left corner of the screen see if it shows a 3D symbol in red? If it does click on it and change it to 2D then try and watch the film again this should get rid of the fuzzy red split, if you would let me know if that helps?

[@metaladder1018]

Why not just use spacers and/or clips to keep the two half's together how you want them with non-conductive material???

[@chydedelaplace8947]

Incredible, thank you!

[@jksambu3914]

THIS IS COOL JUST LIKE TESTASTIKA,THE SWISS MITHARAH GENERATOR

[@soilgrowth2061]

just clean the surface with a scotch brite pad then polish metal 4 × more conducting activities

[@charlesmedlock9408]

Why doesn't the electric travel in a straight line? The shortest distance between two points, is a straight line.

[@williamgreene4834]

Charles Medlock, High voltage follows the path of least resistance which is not always a straight line. If fact it seems to never be a straight line. High voltage does weird spooky stuff.

[@Wavefront101]

Has anyone ever tried building these caps with various crystals as the dielectric? I believe stefen from ou said that the original was built with something like quartz crystals inside the caps but I may be mistaken. Also Bushman from lockheed said he did experiments showing crystals being conductive at higher voltages.

[@MrTeslonian]

Distilled water has a potential kappa of 70 were as glass may be as high as 7 kappa and pvc is around only 2.5-5 kappa

[@greetswithfire1868]

Time travel. You're almost there.

[@maesterwillyofthehouseofboink]

Maybe you can try to build a garage version of one like this with it? :p

[@lawabidingcitizen5153]

What will you use this for?

[@MrTeslonian]

mostly for stopping my heart when I touch it;) It was used for many different projects, in fact one of them got me a hefty fine from the FCC for disrupting ham radio operators.

[@lawabidingcitizen5153]

+MrTeslonian Thanks for replying

[@MrTeslonian]

Javier Schulenburg Was there something in particular that you were interested in using one for?

[@lawabidingcitizen5153]

+MrTeslonian no, I was just curious

[@lawabidingcitizen5153]

+MrTeslonian you should try a cathode ray tube with pure oxygen, it gives a nice green glow

[@LarsonFamilyFarm-LLC]

Wonderful machine...super great job in design and development...i think the plexi-glass warp can be fixed...with dielectric holders...had you made the circumference a bit larger in plexi..then has room to add stabilizers in on the peripheral. Hey, but that's not what i came here to mention...can you find a "fused quartz" circular rod....or even natural quartz of with "length"...3"-6" to 9"....buddy you have no idea "how far" and how nice the spark would look riding on the surface of quartz. I think natural quartz is best...but sure would like to see fused quartz tube used too. Whatever your gap is now....it can be that plus almost the length of quartz....i don't know the exact distance...but it would be intense seeing that flame ride longer and bluer against quartz. Keep up the good work...love it.

[@Berserker9_Games]

thanks so much for your vids I've learned so much

[@enlightened1fp]

that's amazingly beautiful now think about a low water mover DC step motor