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Re: Conducting through glass



And, in fact, this is how they keep glass molten in the glass manufacturing
business.. Just stick carbon electrodes into it and run beaucoup current
through it.

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> From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Conducting through glass
> Date: Sunday, February 20, 2000 3:24 AM
> 
> Original Poster: "Reinhard Walter Buchner" <rw.buchner-at-verbund-dot-net> 
> 
> Hi Andy,
> 
> >Original Poster: "Andy Cleary" <gemware2-at-dreamscape-dot-com>
> > I am curious, why is the HV output of a Tesla Coil (or I'd
> >assume any other HV source) able to go through a thin piece
> >of glass, without a sign ofdamage?  I thought glass would
> >insulate it, or can the electricity flow through thin layers of it?
> 
> snip
> 
> You have read the comments to your post. I would now like to
> add that glass can indeed conduct electricity. If you place a
> piece of glass (tubing or thin solid rod works best) between the
> electrodes of a HV xformer and heat the glass to a bright red-
> orange (with an external flame or the HV discharge itself), it will
> start to conduct and glow on its own. In (semi)fluid state, glass
> will allow ions to migrate from one end to the other resulting in
> a high (kohms) ohm resistor. This gets very hot from the I^2*R
> losses. However, it is kind of interesting to see a light bulb
> "filament" made out of glass. You can do something similar in a
> µwave oven (off topic). However be careful, if you try this or the
> above. Don´t use a hand held propane torch to heat the glass
> (because of the obvious shock hazards). It won´t work with the
> output from a TC, because the current isn´t high enough.
> 
> Coiler greets from Germany,
> Reinhard
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>