How Van de Graaff Generators Work

How Van de Graaff Generators Work episodes:

• July 24, 2017Do you know how Van de Graaff generators work? Let's turn it on.

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• July 24, 2017Turn it off and the charge stays on the dome.

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• July 24, 2017To understand what is going on, let's look inside.

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• July 24, 2017There is only a motor, powering a pulley, connected to a belt, almost touched by a copper comb.

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• July 24, 2017The pulley is made of a special plastic. Let's fade away all but a few (exaggerated) plastic atoms.

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• July 24, 2017The pulley's plastic atoms will transfer electrons to the inside of the belt (it's just "static electricity").

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• July 24, 2017The inside of the belt becomes more and more negative.

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• July 24, 2017But now let's go back and figure out what the bottom copper comb does.

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• July 24, 2017Electrons jump from the comb trying to reach the increasingly positive pulley.

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• July 24, 2017But these electrons cannot penetrate the belt and are carried away.

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