How Van de Graaff Generators Work

How Van de Graaff Generators Work

By John C. Bean - WeCanFigureThisOut.orgScience Technology

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How Van de Graaff Generators Work episodes

July 24, 2017 Do you know how Van de Graaff generators work? Let's turn it on.
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1 min
July 24, 2017 Turn it off and the charge stays on the dome.
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1 min
July 24, 2017 To understand what is going on, let's look inside.
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1 min
July 24, 2017 There is only a motor, powering a pulley, connected to a belt, almost touched by a copper comb.
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1 min
July 24, 2017 The pulley is made of a special plastic. Let's fade away all but a few (exaggerated) plastic atoms.
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1 min
July 24, 2017 The pulley's plastic atoms will transfer electrons to the inside of the belt (it's just "static electricity").
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1 min
July 24, 2017 The inside of the belt becomes more and more negative.
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1 min
July 24, 2017 But now let's go back and figure out what the bottom copper comb does.
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1 min
July 24, 2017 Electrons jump from the comb trying to reach the increasingly positive pulley.
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1 min
July 24, 2017 But these electrons cannot penetrate the belt and are carried away.
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1 min