Capacitor Discharge Experimentation

The Capacitors:

• Made by Cornell Dubilier
• Owned by Aron
• Rated 8200uF @ 400VDC
• 3.5" O.D. standing 6" tall
• Bright blue color
• 3 are wired in series for this experiment. This yields 3000uF @ 1200VDC (includes filtering in PSU)

The charging supply:

• Made by Aron
• 2kV 300mA output
• Built-in filter capacitors
• HV resistors smoke after awhile :-)
• Looks great and performs flawlessly.
• Charges 3000uF to 1200VDC in >15 seconds

The Spark Gap:

• Homeade by me and Aron
• Originally made for 5kVA Tesla Coil service
• Two 0.5" x 6" steel bolts threaded through 2x4 blocks
• Mounted on 1" thick pine base
• Gap spacing fully adjustable from 0" to 1.5"
• For capacitor discharge use, gap is shorted across with a large bolt threaded on the end of a PVC rod.

Safety Considerations:

• +100V usually remains in the capacitors after experiment is performed.
• Eyes must be protected from flying debris - which includes melted copper wire and burning insulation.
• Adequate ventilation is a must. Experiment creates large (4' diameter) clouds of irritating smoke.
• Sensitive electronic equipment must be taken out of the room due to strong electromagnetic pulse.
• Instantaneous sound pressure levels exceed 150dB

The Pictures!

The following patterns were created by charging a 3000uF bank of capacitors up to various voltages, and then discharging them through a piece of #22 wire via a spark gap. Instantaneous current levels go sky high, and the light-gauge wire is actually vaporized into a cloud of smoke. If a sheet of paper is placed on top of the wire, the smoke particles fly outward and are impregnated into the paper. This is what you see below. A possible explanation for the strange patterns might be the powerful magnetic field influencing the smoke particles. I don't know...do you? Write me some mail!

Picture numbers 1 - 4

1. 1200 volts, 2 kilojoules 5" wire length
2. 1000 volts, 1.5 kilojoules, 3.75" wire length, 300 volts remaining after discharge
3. 650 volts, 630 joules, 3.75" wire length, 175 volts remaining
4. 1200 volts, 2 kilojoules, 2" wire length, 300 volts remaining

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