User:Mkennedy7536/Static electricity/Howard Community College/Fall2012

Write problem/project Goal
To build a new static electricity generator and harness enough static electricity to make an aluminum triangle float.

My First Task
Look at the previous page at Static Project and familiarize myself with the findings. I will also work on a prototype for the dancing balls experiment.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
I was able to make modifications to the dancing balls design that the previous team came up with and make a basic prototype of the dancing balls experiment. I used a fish tank instead of plexiglass and aluminum foil and wood instead of aluminum plates.

Week1 Narrative
I decided to do the dancing balls experiment from the previous team and make a prototype based on the youtube video that the previous team had uploaded that can be seen at Dancing Balls. I also took note of the materials list that the previous team provided and sought out substitutes that were available in the shop. I found a fish tank to use in place of the plexiglass frame used in the video and decided to modify that for the container. I also decided to use aluminum foil that I would wrap around wood and the bottom of the fish tank instead of buying aluminum plates like they had in the video. After making these modifications to the fish tank, I had to make the small styrofoam balls and wrap them in aluminum. To do this, I had to repair the the styrofoam cutter and utilize styrofoam in the shop, which is documented at /StyrofoamCutter/. After cutting up all the pieces and wrapping them, my prototype was finished and ready to be tested. Unfortunately, the test did not succeed in replicating the video.

My Second Task
I will downsize the current prototype into two smaller models and test these two new prototypes.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
I was able to cut the size of the of the original size to one with a height of 3.75 in. and the other to a height of 1.875 in. I have also made adjustments to the designs so that they will be ready to test on Tuesday, 11/20/12.

Week2 Narrative
I was able to cut the dancing balls mini me prototype into two different sections, one that was 2/3 the size, and one that was 1/3 the size. I then tested the larger of the two new prototypes and it yielded positive results in that the balls were moving, but also revealed that the ball size was also a factor. The smaller balls were the only ones that actually moved, so the larger balls had to be replaced with smaller ones. Another thing I wanted to test was to see if the styrofoam was necessary for the balls to move, or would just aluminum foil balls work just as well. After adding in some balls made just from aluminum foil and some smaller ones, the prototypes were ready to be tested again. This time, both prototypes succeeded in making all the balls move around in the container. The video of the larger prototype is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjrcMy30xTo&feature=youtu.be and the video of the smaller prototype is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGtmFXcTxlI&feature=youtu.be. The large one worked out well in that it replicated the previous youtube video that the project was based on. The smaller one worked even better, and even produced a light show of sparks in the process. I also worked with John Stakpo in a brief venture into a static powered leyden jar, and were able to succeed after three attempts that involve arcing electricity and some broken glass. Videos of this can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE7lQRw6kSw&feature=youtu.be, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA7B_RxtuVM&feature=youtu.be, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwke6TYgtKc&feature=youtu.be.

My Third task
I want to find out at exactly what the voltage has to be to get the balls moving in the prototypes. I also want to start to look for places to apply these prototypes and use what I've found.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
I ran the tests of the capacitor and the static prototypes and found out that the capacitor increased the output of the protoypes performance, but could still do so much more.

Week3 Narrative
I combined the capacitor that I had gotten working with the previous static prototypes to see what the change in output would be. The first test I ran this with was the spinning bottles test, where the capacitor provided an increase in electrical output that made the middle bottle spin faster, but since the middle bottle wasn't completely balanced at the time, it came close to the bottle on the right side and made some arcing of electricity. I believe that this had some effect on how fast the bottles were spinning and that even greater speeds can be achieved once the middle bottle is more stable. This video of this test is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HufYAcGup4s&feature=youtu.be. I also tested the capacitor with the two dancing balls prototypes, and got similar results in terms of the increased output voltage. In both the large and small prototypes, we were able to get enough of an output on the positive and negative poles that there would be a large arc of electricity that would temporarily complete the circuit and stop all ball motion. This leads me to believe that this could make a larger design work, and I can make this design by placing the plexiglass frames of the two prototypes on top of each other. The video of the large one can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8saSzF7cYzg&feature=youtu.be and the small one can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl3gArsIxW4&feature=youtu.be. I also my work on the styrofoam cutter by implementing the switch that allows it to turn on and off so that it doesn't constantly have to be unplugged and plugged. My work on this is documented at /StyrofoamCutter/. The final thing I did was try to maximize the output of the capacitor by remaking it on the other side of the fish tank that didn't have a crack in it. The idea was that there would be enough charge building up that the electricity would arc over the top at its maximum point and not go through the glass like it did with the crack. Unfortunately, the glass was not strong enough to keep the opposite charges apart and ended up cracking under the pressure. This video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPT9xCWMGHk&feature=youtu.be.

My Fourth task
I will have to make a new capacitor out of plexiglass and make a frame for it to stand up. After doing this, I will redo the test of the spinning bottles that will be more securely anchored and also do the dancing balls test with the two plexiglass frames on top of each other.

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
I built a new capacitor to replace the old one using plexiglass instead of glass for increased stability and a new wooden mound to support it.

Week4 Narrative
I was able to come up with a simple design for the new capacitor and build it, which is documented at /New Capacitor/. Once the new capacitor was finished, I ran tests with it hooked up to the static prototypes like I did with the previous one to see if there was an increase in performance. The first test was with the spinning bottles prototype, which unfortunately refused to spin. Instead, the static electricity arced through the bottle and to the metal support rod in the middle and also arced between the bottles. The first test of the spinning bottles is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y8E2baIHIc&feature=youtu.be. The second test videos are in two parts. Part 1 is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzOwLCmRX0Q&feature=youtu.be and part 2 is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzgHF3RclA8&feature=youtu.be. The test with the tall dancing balls prototype also ended in failure, in that there was a small amount of movement of the really small balls for a very brief moment in time. The video of this test is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh-56AyGDas&feature=youtu.be. To solve the spinning bottles problem, I needed to insulate the metal rod in the middle. I placed shrink wrap on the rod and heated it so that it became form fitting and not add a lot of extra space. I also wanted to make the bottle more stable, so I filled the cylinder attached to the cap with hot glue and drilled into it to decrease how much the bottle would wobble on the rod. To solve the dancing ball issue, I went with the approach of decreasing the ball sizes again so that they were all about as small as the ones that moved. I then ran the tests again, with the bottles first, and though that test had no arcs of electricity this time, the bottles still did not spin. The second test of the dancing balls test ended with the same results as the first, and was also dubbed a failure. The video of this test is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3WYmPZf8Mg&feature=youtu.be.

Complete Team Page
Static_electricity/Howard_Community_College/Fall2012/p3-502-hkm