A modern day look at parlour tricks

[Channel Hopper]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4468957986746104671

I built many extremely high voltage transfer coils years ago using thin enamelled wire, brown paper and wax, and produced some Jacobs Ladder effects. Nothing like this one though

 

[spiney]

Great Video! However, as the song says, "it's not unusual" ....

With electricity distribution systems, the big problem is switching OFF. With all that power and inductance, when you open a switch, the current doesn't stop (!), instead an arc forms across the ionised air, and current continues flowing, even across a gap of several feet!

(Imagine not being able to switch off any electrical appliance in your home ...).

To deal with this, power switching substations tend to have circuit breakers with very long arms, and air blowers to put out the arcs, often making them look like something from Frankenstein's lab.

The installation shown in video - at Boulder City - is fairly typical, and I assume there was some sort of fault!

http://205.243.100.155/frames/longarc.htm (more pics and videos!).

 

[2cvbloke]

Have you seen that subsation exploding? Gawd when I first saw that (months ago!!!) I wondered how safe those big humming lumps of pipe are!!! O-Ha

I do like creating sparks though, shame I can't do anything like those before my tripswitches cut out...

 

[spiney]

After seeing this, maybe folks will stop complaining about the "tingle" fron their lnb socket?