Today's tidbits

[mk]

Didn't forget the flower pictures!

Just some hints: Substitute "vortex gun" with "sword". It's an old 386 or 486 game, originally. But three more episodes/parts followed.

[mk]

Just another "meet paticipant", gotten sidetracked.

[mk]

My 3.5ccm two-stroke RC car.

Featuring a tuned pipe, not calculated with the Java applet. But it works pretty nice and eats up the clutch much faster than the original muffler.

This one really is fun.

[Mark]

Hey, Dr. Megavolt is my buddy Austin! He's a PHD in physics and is going to help me do ultra high speed thermal video of jam jars soon. very cool guy.

It might be interesting to try a ~20 cylce per second spark discharge inside a small jam jar, to see if the spark heat could possibly drive it in a similar fashion as methanol does.
Mark

[Bruno Ogorelec]

Hey, Dr. Megavolt is my buddy Austin! He's a PHD in physics and is going to help me do ultra high speed thermal video of jam jars soon. very cool guy.

It might be interesting to try a ~20 cylce per second spark discharge inside a small jam jar, to see if the spark heat could possibly drive it in a similar fashion as methanol does.
Mark

It cannot. Heat is just one of the factors. In the oxidation of fuels, a great volume of products of combustion is generated, which starts aa Kadenacy cycle. You wouldn't get that with spark discharge. But, you might be able to get a Rijke tube to hum.

[Mark]

http://www.utahweather.org/UWC/lightnin ... tning.html
Well, I am sure you are familiar with the atom bomb, it super heats the air, and while I wasn't considering atomic energy, I was thinking about something along the lines of super heating air in a pulsating fashion.
The other day I took a half gallon carton of orange juice out of the fridge and poured the last of it in a glass and screwed the cap back on the container. The carton became quite taunt just from the transition of cold air becoming room temperature. I once put some 2 liter plastic bottles in the freezer and then took them out and screwed the caps on tightly. They got somewhat taunt too this way. And of course you can hear a release of pressure when you unscrew the cap. While not much, you have to be able to imagine several thousand degrees, dumping a spark discharge all at once, and not your everyday spark plug spark.
It would be a sort of PV=nRT type of deal. Perhaps Dr. Megavolt could make something for Mike.
Mark

[Mark]

Battery powered hot surface ignitor. Uses 4 AA batteries, something different. "Not responsible for the use or misuse of this product." LOL
Mark
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... otohosting

[El-Kablooey]

just use a carbon arc, they're really hot. just a spark gap between two carbon electrodes, being pushed by a couple or 3 microwave oven transformers.

[Mark]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WD1V
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... stockphoto
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... otohosting
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... V#DESCDATA
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WD1V
http://physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatu ... nator.html
When all else fails, read something.
Mark

[Al Belli]

Hi,

I would not recommend the use of microwave oven transformers on 120v. AC , since the voltage and current produced is a lethal combination. Automotive ignition coils can produce some nasty shocks, but will not kill You unless a heart problem exsists !
Just think back to those nasty shocks recieved while removing the spark plug lead when forgetting to shut the power off. Each of those shocks was potentially fatal if You had been using a higher current power source.
I, as a youngster, got " nailed " by a 15 Kv. @ 30 Ma. neon sign transformer. Boy, did I have some sore muscles in My right arm for several hours that day !!!!! I developed a healthy respect for high voltages, and have been very safety conscious ever since ! Also be careful around charged capacitors, especially photoflash types; they are used in medical defibrilattors, and can cause ventricular fibrillation which is a fatality producing condition.

BE VERY CAREFUL AROUND HIGH VOLTAGE POWER.

Al Belli

[El-Kablooey]

you're right, that was pretty irresponsible of me not to mention the dangers, and safety precautions one should take when dealing with high currents/voltages. I guess I've been fooling around with things of this nature foor so long that I subconciously took it for granted that everyone was aware of how powerful and dangerous MOT's are. PLEASE, unless you are experienced with very high power outputs, and take every precaution to insure that there is no possibility for these currents to find a path to ground through your body, DO NOT PLAY WITH MOT's!!!!
they can deliver a couple of thousand volts and a couple of AMPS! as Al stated, 30Ma at high voltages is painful, and a couple of hundred Ma is very likely to lethal at high voltages, AMPS will certainly kill you..

I apologize...

[mk]

Oh yeah, Al, absolutely! Even or especially the modern ignition circuits being based on capacitor discharge induced sparks can be harmful, just as all large capacitors.


Okay, the computer game actually consists out of four parts. Pirates are playing a big role, though. It is an adventure-role-game...

[Mark]

A bit too much for a pulsejet, but an interesting zappy spark.
Mark
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 22536&rd=1

[larry cottrill]

A bit too much for a pulsejet, but an interesting zappy spark.
Mark
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 22536&rd=1

These transformers are also potentially lethal. They are just the right thing if you want to build a "Jacob's ladder" [climbing arc] - the heat from the arc causes it to climb from bottom to top between long electrodes. You have to keep your hands away from it, though - experimenting as shown in the eBay photo is NOT recommended!

L Cottrill

[Mark]

I have a smaller neon transformer, but it also makes a very furry, hot spark, I'm always very careful with it, because I have this feeling it would really hurt or worse if I let those electrons course through my body.
I burned my fingers once touching/adjusting one of the two rods for a Jacob's Ladder I made. Those rods get hot even after a very short run.
Mark