In the post-apocalyptic hellscape that will be next week, we’re going to need people who know how to make unique electronics projects in order to power the homes of the cannibals who will populate our cities. To that end, we present this interesting DIY Electrostatic motor that will power, for example, a fan used to blow flies away from the new God-King who will rise to take his place on the throne once all political systems have fallen.
The device uses a set of sticks topped with round clackers. A high voltage charge shoots into them, shuttling back and forth as the power flows.
I used conductive spheres to shuttle electric charges between the poles of a high voltage (HV) DC source. This shuttle assembly was made from two, foil-covered spheres joined by a non-conducting, plastic tube. The assembly was sandwiched between two stationary, dumbbell shaped electrodes. When the upper dumbbell was grounded with respect to the negatively charged lower dumbbell, the shuttle began to bounce between the HV poles with a clacking noise as charges were transferred from the lower to the upper electrode. This rocking motion completed the HV circuit.
If you can’t use this to control devices in the future, rest assured it will make an excellent trick for your upcoming travelling magic show.
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