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How Van de Graaff Generators Work

How Van de Graaff Generators Work

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This podcast is drawn from the “Virtual Lab” of WeCanFigureThisOut.org. This Virtual Lab uses 3D virtual reality animations to explain electronics, microelectronics and nanotechnology. This podcast explains how Van de Graaff generators work by using a motor to separate charges.

Recent Episodes

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

    7 years ago

  • Turn it off and the charge stays on the dome.

    7 years ago

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

    7 years ago

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

    7 years ago

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

    7 years ago

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

    7 years ago

  • The inside of the belt becomes more and more negative.

    7 years ago

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

    7 years ago

  • Electrons jump from the comb trying to reach the increasingly positive pulley.

    7 years ago

  • But these electrons cannot penetrate the belt and are carried away.

    7 years ago