Re: Van de Graaff /Pelletron (fwd)

[Steven Roys <sroys@xxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 16:28:03 -0800
From: Ed Phillips <evp@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: High Voltage list <hvlist@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Van de Graaff /Pelletron (fwd)

High Voltage list wrote:
>
> Original poster: 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

	I've seen it twice and would walk across town to see it again!
Fortunately both times we were staying at a hotel just across the river
and it was only a 5 minute walk. Spectacular and something you'll never
forget.  Only problem is it might make you want to go home and kick the
machine you built and were so proud of!

Ed