Van de Graaff Generator

Also called

electrostatic generator · belt and combs · corona discharge · hollow conductor · charge on the outer surface · high voltage dome · spark · electric breakdown of air · hair stands on end · electrostatics · charge accumulation · metal dome · particle accelerator · वान डे ग्राफ जनित्र · स्थिरवैद्युत जनित्र · आवेश · विद्युत स्फुलिंग

Topics

• A motor drives an insulating belt round two pulleys inside an insulating column topped by a hollow metal dome.
• A comb of sharp points at a high positive potential sprays positive charge onto the belt by corona discharge.
• The belt carries the charge up; a second comb inside the dome collects it and passes it to the dome.
• Charge given to the inside of a hollow conductor moves to its outer surface, so the dome can go on collecting.
• The dome reaches millions of volts; a person touching it charges up and their hairs repel one another.
• When the field at the dome exceeds about 3 × 10⁶ V/m, air breaks down and a spark jumps to an earthed sphere.
• Van de Graaff generators were built to accelerate charged particles for nuclear physics experiments.

About this model

A GLB file of about 606 KB, shown in Lably's 3D viewer and, on a phone, placed in your room with AR. Credit: Model, science and animation: Lably (built procedurally with three.js; no downloaded meshes). | CC BY 4.0. Original geometry and animation made for Lably.

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