The coolest thing that I have built recently was actually a Van Derr Graff Generator. I know a lot of people have built these things, but I think mine is kind of special. It is only 2.5 inches tall. I built the base out of a Code Red Pop Bottle cap, the shaft was cut from a G2 Gel Ink Pen, the belt is from an eye glass cleaner cloth, the motor is from a Radio Shack Zip Zap, the collector is from a pop can that was cut and shaped to be a ball, and the brush is actually a stripped piece of speaker wire. The whole thing runs on 1 AA battery. I'm currently looking for a higher torque, less RPM motor to replace the current motor with and switch over to small rubber bands for the belt. That should greatly increase my static output.
The really sad thing about all of this? I'm an English major with Religion and Philosophy minors...
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The coolest thing that I have built recently was actually a Van Derr Graff Generator. I know a lot of people have built these things, but I think mine is kind of special. It is only 2.5 inches tall. I built the base out of a Code Red Pop Bottle cap, the shaft was cut from a G2 Gel Ink Pen, the belt is from an eye glass cleaner cloth, the motor is from a Radio Shack Zip Zap, the collector is from a pop can that was cut and shaped to be a ball, and the brush is actually a stripped piece of speaker wire. The whole thing runs on 1 AA battery. I'm currently looking for a higher torque, less RPM motor to replace the current motor with and switch over to small rubber bands for the belt. That should greatly increase my static output.
The really sad thing about all of this? I'm an English major with Religion and Philosophy minors...
JLJ