Junior High Electrical Demonstration

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Original poster: "Chris Roberts by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <quezacotl_14000000000000-at-yahoo-dot-com>

Hi everybody,
I just got done with doing a demonstration for the 8th grade science 
classes at my local junior high school. I got to get out of my classes at 
my school (yes!) and bring a couple of my things over. I brought my 6 inch 
coil (it now shoots about 3ft sparks!) my mini coil (awww... cute!) a 
jacobs ladder, and a small electromagnetic ring launcher. I had a lot of 
fun showing them some basics such as conductors and insulators ("Here kid, 
take this yardstick and wave it through the sparks of this small coil. 
Don't feel anything? That's called an insulator. Now try this copper rod... 
he he he) we also played around with electromagnetics, we lit up some 
florescent tubes, showed resistance by heating up an aluminum ring and 
tossing it to someone, then watching them drop it when the! y realize how 
much it had heated up. =D Then, at the end of the demo, I lined the whole 
class (those who were brave enough!) had them all hold hands, one end of 
the line was holding on to a metal door frame, the other end was holding 
the copper rod and moved it in to the mini coil sparks... it was enough to 
make them jump a little. =D It was a blast. The best part was waiting for 
the next class between periods, and watching people walk by, stop, then 
take a second look at all of the bizarre looking stuff sitting in there. =D 
I just thought I'd share what I've been doing these past days... By the 
way, if any of you ever get the chance to do some demo for a school or 
whatever, be sure to do it. It's great fun for you and whoever participates 
in it. See ya!


-Chris