Does anyone own a Wimshurst or Electrostatic machine?

[AlexB23]

Hey guys. Electricity is a fascinating thing that I steer clear of, however, when scrolling YouTube a decade ago, I found out that there are hand-cranked machines that make sparks. Do any of you guys own one of these electrostatic machines? If so, what got you into owning one?

 

[berkeman]

Since you haven't received any replies yet, I'm guess that folks don't usually get these for home use/entertainment. Probably they are more commonly used in educational environments like schools and labs.

We've had a number of threads over the years about home-built Van de Graaff generators, but I'm not sure why they are more popular:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_de_Graaff_generator

Probably the most popular would be the Plasma Globes that you can buy from lots of places:

https://www.arborsci.com/products/8-plasma-globe

 

[AlexB23]

Since you haven't received any replies yet, I'm guess that folks don't usually get these for home use/entertainment. Probably they are more commonly used in educational environments like schools and labs.

We've had a number of threads over the years about home-built Van de Graaff generators, but I'm not sure why they are more popular:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_de_Graaff_generator

Probably the most popular would be the Plasma Globes that you can buy from lots of places:

View attachment 365741

https://www.arborsci.com/products/8-plasma-globe

Plasma globes are pretty cool. I have touched one before, and the electricity can be a little freaky to see under the glass.