| Author | Message | ||
     Jeff S. |
Leyden jars are really cool. They are basically a primitive capacitor. To make one, you get an empty film canister. Wrap aluminum around the outside. Then, fill the film canister about 1/2 full of water. Put a nail through the lid(it has to be long enough to touch the water when the lid is on) and then put the lid on. To charge the jar, take a length of 1/4" pvc piping(about 3-4' long). Then, holding the pvc piping just above the nail(it's okay if it touches the nail), rub the pvc piping with some cotton(I used a 100% cotton sweater). After some rubbing, the canister will contain enough of a charge to shock you. To do this, hold the canister in one hand(make sure your hand touches the aluminum foil), and touch the nail with another. Have Fun! | ||
| Jeff S |
Oops! Apparently someone already talked about this. Oh, well. At least I gave instructions. | ||
| Anonymous |
That's OK! These instructions are the most basic and easy. This was the way I made my first leyden jar. It's fun to bring one to school, and shock your enemies (at the risk of being beaten up) | ||
| Anonymous |
How many times do you rub | ||
| Jeff S. |
You know, I do not know. I never made this project with the film canister(didn't have one handy. I made one, though, with a small "Ziploc" plastic container, which is about 1.5" tall and 3" wide. With that, it took about 30-50 rubs. Actually, once, I was making a huge charge in it(it was at least 400-500 rubs). It began to slip off the couch and so my sister tried to rescue it. Instead, she got a huge zap by accidently touching both contacts. | ||
| Anonymous |
I don't think that you needed to rub 400 times, because by about 50 rubs, the capacitor runs out of capacity. Try making a bigger jar out of a tupperware container, or a big bucket! The shock can actually be lethal if you make a large enough jar with a big enough charge. | ||
| Anonymous |
i made a jar without water instead of puttin water inside i put alluminum foil onthe inside and the outside i charge it by hookin the outside to a ground an the inside to a peice of foil on a tv set screen the only problem is it only makes 1/4" sparks | ||
| mnado (Mnado) Senior Member Username: Mnado Post Number: 148 Registered: 12-2005 |
Why don't you just simply make VDG's or borrow one from your friend if they have one. Using that for charging the leiden jar, luckily you have your friend here that made this site on how to make one. |
