Huw Davies wrote:
>
> At 12:58 AM 04-06-98 +0100, Tony Duell wrote:
>
> >Not _that_ far - less than an inch, I'd have thought. And remember that
> >the EHT side is pretty well insulated, so you're not going to touch it by
> >accident.
>
> I seem to recall that the ionization potential of air at STP is something
> like 10KV/cm, so 17KV might nearly jump an inch on a good day with a tail
> wind.
>
> If you really need to know I'll give my Dad a ring - he's a retired
> ionization physicist who used to play with real big Van der Graf generators
> (by really big I'm talking 10m tall and 5MeV - used to generate real big
> sparks!).
>
> I've never zapped myself with HT, but have successfully survived connecting
> myself to 240V 50Hz - don't try this at home folks (or anywhere else) - it
> hurts....
>
> Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies_at_latrobe.edu.au
> Information Technology Services | Phone: +61 3 9479 1550 Fax: +61 3 9479
> 1999
> La Trobe University | "If God had wanted soccer played in the
> Melbourne Australia 3083 | air, the sky would be painted green"
Well, I _did_ once discharge a Leyden jar that had been charging for
an hour sort of by hand. (Well, I first hit it with the physics lab
grounding strap, it made a _really_ big spark that I thought did the
job. Seems that took care of all of the electrons that could manage a
jump of a full inch. So I grabbed it to put it into the cupboard.)
Picking myself up off the floor a couple of minutes later ... I put it
away, it was now _thoroughly_ discharged.
--
Ward Griffiths
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
Received on Wed Jun 03 1998 - 21:05:28 BST