More Fun (and Danger) With Plasma Globes

Study how in Ion Gas the Tips of the ION ARC go from Real Thin White/Blue Line of ION to Whirlpool Affect of (Orange/Red) , and witch way the Flow is..Maybe a Slow Mo Video is Needed.. wink..wink..nudge...nudge....

Michael

High voltage/Low current - just like an electric stock fencer unit as used on thousands of farms. Perhaps you could check one out Fran.

That's a really active ball. Mine used to just show a couple of spots and then would be attracted to the hand.

adrian

"lived to tell the tale"... glad to hear it :-)

Howard Simons

This reminds me of using used florescent tubes under the high voltage lines as light sabres in the late 70s. There was a nuke plant, the only one in Iowa, that was nearby and these high tension transmission lines on huge towers carried power from the plant out to the electrical grid. I don't know the voltage on those lines coming from the plant, but they must have been in the 500-700 Kv range and you could hear them "crackle" if you stood under them. Someone found out you could make florescent tubes glow if you stood underneath the crackling wires overhead and pointed the tube towards those lines. It worked! Naturally, as kids just out of seeing "Star Wars", pulling used florescent tubes out of dumpsters became our supply of real-life "Light sabres". Of course we would eventually break the tubes swinging them around under the power lines. As usual, being kids, we never thought two steps ahead where someone gets shattered glass driven into their eyes. Actually, we were aware that we couldn't hit each other with the tubes unless we agreed to break both of our tubes together and we'd close our eyes. I always wondered what the farmer who owned the land under the lines thought of all this broken glass on his property. Lava Lamps were in fashion back then and there were no plasma balls to replace them. Post 9-11, you can't even park a mile away from the plant without their security asking you to leave. I once took the road leading to the plant and the signs gradually got threatening enough to essentially say "You've passed my line of death!" and I turned around. I did get out of the car, 40+ years after the light sabre fights, and I didn't hear the "crackle" sound from the power lines. Later I read the plant was finally shutting down after numerous life extension programs. But your light test against the plasma lamp really brought back great childhood memories!

Matt Wietlispach

It's not the size, it's the gas mixture and glass composition. The safe ones are neon/xenon, the UV bulbs are argon/nitrogen. The video I posted showed how dangerously high the UV B and UV A output was. https://youtu.be/1ppPrYeXoek?t=537

lohphat

And here are some sweet multicolored ones! https://www.ebay.com/itm/8-Magic-Plasma-Ball-Touch-Sound-Sensitive-Lamp-Light-3-Colors-Crystal-Light-/114510961712?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

FennecTECH

If you want one that puts out the UV. https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Magic-Plasma-Ball-Sphere-Nebula-Lightning-Lamp-Desktop-Light-Party-Blue-Globe-/353457312918?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0 Go for this one. Its cheap and nasty and looks to have the more dangerous mixture!

FennecTECH

I've got to try to fix my plasma ball now!

Dr Andy Hill

It might be all about that current, but I still don't want to be zapped by thousands of gigavolts! (Although, at the femtoamp scale it's still milliwatts) :D

Maarten Daalder