Re: Van de Graaff /Pelletron (fwd)

[Steven Roys <sroys@xxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 15:27:09 -0500
From: Charles Brush <cfbrush@xxxxxxx>
To: High Voltage list <hvlist@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Van de Graaff /Pelletron (fwd)


Hi everyone,

No discussion about VDGs would be complete without a mention of the
giant unit up at Boston's Museum Of Science.  It was originally built
as a tandem unit 1931 for use as a particle accelerator.  The columns
are six feet in diameter and the terminals are fifteen foot
spheres...large enough that a researcher could work inside each
terminal(!).  At some point the guts of the second unit were removed
and it was merged with the first into a single VDG with two columns
(one empty).

Anyway at the museum they put on a great electrical show throughout
the day, and in addition to demonstrating a big jacob's ladder and a
pair of BIG Tesla coils, they put this VDG through its paces.  The
single belt goes down into the basement, and unit makes some really
impressive bolts that sound equally impressive.   The museum has a
very interesting site with a lot of photos and history of the unit:

http://www.mos.org/sln/toe/

Has anyone else on this list seen this show?  I have some very short
quicktime movies of the VDG which I can post in a temporary directory
if anyone is interested.  If you are ever near Boston it is
definitely worth a visit.


Zap!


Charles Brush