First Leyden Jar - experimenting.

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I have just built a saltwater Leyden jar from a drink bottle and foil and am genuinely joyed that it produces a spark after charging from the TV screen. Good Fun.

So I understand that the charge lies on the interfaces between jar/foil and jar/saltwater. Then I googled "saltwater capacitor" and saw that some people have made devices using a bottle of saltwater sat in a bucket of saltwater, - so no foil.

So it occurred to me that maybe my Leyden jar could be "turned inside out" by having a jarful of saltwater with a decent sized coil of insulated wire submerged in it, (each end trailing out of the jar.)

I was thinking of grounding the submerged wire. Then, sweeping the TV screen with a wire with a stripped end dipped in the saltwater.

Do you think this will work before I go and buy some more wire?

Any better ideas about grounding / charging?

Thanks for reading.

 

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Induction Charging an Electrolyte?

If you wanted to induce a -ve charge throughout a measuring cylinder of , say, saltwater how would you do it?

By earthing the inside of the cylinder and bringing a +ve charged object close?

Would the -ve charge reside solely on the wet inside surfaces of the measuring cylinder?

 

[sir-pinski]

It's great to hear that you are experimenting with a Leyden jar and are excited about the results! Your idea of "turning it inside out" and using a jarful of saltwater with a wire submerged in it is definitely worth trying out. Grounding the submerged wire and using a wire with a stripped end to sweep the TV screen could potentially work, but it's always important to do your research and take necessary safety precautions when working with electricity.

As for other ideas for grounding and charging, you could also try using a battery or a power source to charge the Leyden jar instead of relying on the TV screen. You could also experiment with different types of saltwater solutions to see if it affects the spark produced.

Overall, the key to successful experimentation is to keep an open mind, ask questions, and continue to learn and improve your methods. Good luck with your future experiments!