Like some 4 or 5 years ago I got a nebula ball for christmas (for those of you who don't know what they are by name, they're also sometimes called plasma balls... here is a picture)

Anyway, yesterday I got bored and decided to take it apart... well, I really didn't get far - all I did was take the glass ball off - before I found something very... exciting
There's a small wire that sticks up into the tube that leads the center of the glass ball. The wire is entirely insulated except for about the last centimeter of it, which is exposed to make the connection when it's inside the glass. Being the wonderfully intelligent person I am, with the thing turned on, I touched it...
Yes, there is a burn mark on my finger... but that aside, it's very fun! Anything conductive I put near it will cause it to arc... I've been playing around with it for a while now and found some pretty interesting things... for one, I put a few droplets of water on top of a coin, and I'm assuming this happens because of water's polarized properties, but when I arc from the wire to the water, the water actually contracts, shinking in base surface area, but piling up to a higher droplet... it's like a bubble of water

here are some pictures:
the wire that sticks up...


the arc is about 1-1.5cm long...


It's pretty fun... I also found that if I put the piece of metal too close to the wire, like to the point that they're touching or almost touching, I can actually feel tingling in my fingers from the current...
So, if any of you happen to meet me one day and I'm like one of those people who's hair stands up all the time and have a funky twitch on one side of my face, you'll know why...

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Do you have stairs in your house?

I feel that your fascination in electrical experiments will lead you to a "shocking" fate.

Oh well

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)
---@%

I wanna make a homemade tesla coil now

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Do you have stairs in your house?

Haha, those things got my voltmeter freak out.

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Map-Review | Digital Core | The Matrix: Unplugged

Farewell, MaDaVentor. In our hearts, you'll always live on.

That would make a great weapon. Just find a way to lengthen the arc to a mile or so.

Post # 68000

[bah. Krok got it ]

[This message has been edited by Omicron88 (edited December 20, 2003).]

Don't those plasma balls contain poisonous gases inside?

Yes, neon gas, but the glass ball itself is sealed off so removing it didn't release any.

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Do you have stairs in your house?

I didn't die when mine smashed, so obviously it's not that poisonous.

Well, seeing as neon is an inert gas... It's not exactly poisonous.

Anyways, yah, high voltage is cool.

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"I'm more neutrally charged than YOU are" - BV

I love noble gases...

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)
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Well, there is a warning lable that says if the ball is broken you should contact poison control, but I'm sure that's just hazard protection... I've heard of plenty of people who's glass broke and nothing ever happened except that they had a lot more fun with the ball

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Do you have stairs in your house?

Well, what would Poison Control do?

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)
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Tell you you're going to die a horrible death and there's nothing they can do for you, then suggest you spend the last 15 minutes of your life doing something pleasureable, I guess

I donno, I suppose it could be potentially hazardous if you were like in a very closed area or something (I'm no expert on neon or inert gases so I don't know how lethal they are .. I'm assuming from the context of the conversation, not very)
But you know, they always have to put SOME kind of warning on there because if they don't somebody will manage to hurt themselves with it and bring up a law suit about it

(if the pictures quit showing up, sorry. it's because I ran out of daily bandwidth)

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Do you have stairs in your house?

[This message has been edited by Correction (edited December 20, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by Correction (edited December 20, 2003).]

It's kind of like when people tell you not to breathe in the helium from balloons... They make up some BS about how it can kill you... well, it can't. The only way that helium, neon, or any other noble gas (except radon*) can kill you is if you were ONLY breathing that, and you weren't getting any oxygen. But that's the same for any gas.

*radon is radioactive, so it is considerably more dangerous

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"I'm more neutrally charged than YOU are" - BV

Right... so I suppose if you were to break the glass and then stick your head in it, you might have some trouble... but I guess you'd probably be more in danger of bleeding to death from the cuts after sticking your head through the broken glass than actually suffocating

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Do you have stairs in your house?

When I saw this thread, I could think of nothing but when I shorted out my classroom in 7th grade by sticking a paperclip in the light switch .
This must have been a very painful event, huh .

BTW - the image links are broken for me.

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It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
/Banana starts dancing

[This message has been edited by Darth Slaw (edited December 20, 2003).]

Yeah, apparently my daily bandwidth limit's been exceeded. Not sure how that happened... it's never done that before o.O

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Do you have stairs in your house?

The only reason they're "dangerous" is because they thin the amount of oxgyen in the immediate area.

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Roach - It's not what you know, it's what you can prove.

The mental patient sits and stares.

0 of 14.

No go stick a fork in an electrical outlet. Preferably a 220 outlet

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I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

http://powerlabs.org/highvoltage.htm << fun stuff

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^^
00

DUDE!!!! did the EXACT thing when my electrostorm ball broke.

Might I suggest a few fun things to do with it.


1: Find an junk aol cd, (screwdriver optional). Run parts of the cd across that wire.....it *paints* lines into it.
Any cd of course will work, but this is a fun way to get rid of those damn aol disks...and you can express some of your artisticfullness.


2: Take a screwdriver with a wooden or plastic handle, (as long as it's not a metal handle touching the metal end). Make the arch and run paper of something through it. It will burn. It's quite fun to experiment with.


Those are what I found the most fun.

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"Did you just say.....Birthday Party?...."

Actually that's not true. Since Neon is a heavier gas than air if you breathe it it displaces the air in your lungs, preventing you form breathing easily. Although there isn't nearly enough Neon (nor is it really heavy enough) in a little globe to do that...But better safe than sorry said the corporate lawyer.
BTW I know this because I accidently inhaled Xenon before which is very heavy. Knocks you straight to the gorund and it's very hard to breathe. I had to stand on my head and have gravity pull it out of my lungs.

[This message has been edited by Evil_Tofu (edited December 20, 2003).]

Reminds me of when I shorted myself out plugging a 9v battery onto my tongue.

...

What?

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* Seb goes around singing "I'm too sexy for my body"
* Wolfy goes around singing "I'm too sexy for Seb's body"
* Cave_Demon steals Seb's underwear (underwear stolen: 39)

Hmmm... yeah, I've done the paper thing.. it actually caught on fire after a while
Also, I've been playing around with an old digital watch that doesn't work anymore (batteries are dead I think) ... I got a small paperclip and actually melted a hole into the clear-plastic face, and when the plastic dried, I had a watch with a straightened paperclip sticking out of the front Since the paperclip was deep enough to actually be touching the screen, whenever I'd arc to the paperclip it'd cause the numbers and displays immediately around it to light up... that was pretty interesting.
As for the CD... I thought about trying stuff with a CD, but I haven't found a crap one yet that I can ruin... that sounds really neat, I'll have to try that

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Do you have stairs in your house?

i stuck a paperclip in the outlet in second grade thankfully it was the ground i stuck it in... but man i never heard a teacher yell so loud lol, it was only cuz some 5th grader dared me 2. what happens exactly wehn u do "successfuly" stick a paperclip in an outlet?

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-If you don't know, then don't ask...

Come on, I know you know what would happen..

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)
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It's not THAT bad, actually... I haven't purposely stuck anything in one before, but I have had the prongs to a plug break off in there and in trying to get them out accadently touched them both at once...
I mean, sure my hand tingled for a few minutes, but it's not as bad as they make it seem... not that that's a bad thing. I mean, it's certainly not something I'd recomend trying...

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Do you have stairs in your house?

i play with electricty too sometimes... this was in 95.



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[teletubbie voice] BIG HUG!!!! [/teletubbie voice]

[This message has been edited by Wolvie17 (edited December 21, 2003).]

Showoff

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Do you have stairs in your house?

Never mess with a Wolvie's scorn

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"We came, we saw, we conquered, we...woke up!"

Just a question... where the **** do you get Xenon?

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"I'm more neutrally charged than YOU are" - BV

D'uh! At your local Eckerd!

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Do you have stairs in your house?

Xenon tastes good on toast...

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)
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So does mercury...


(for those of you who remember my last.. erm.. adventure. )

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Do you have stairs in your house?

this is what i play with




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LONG LIVE DREAMCAST!!!

fire... psh... overrated

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Do you have stairs in your house?

come here let me hold my lighter up to your shirt and see if you think it's overrated then

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LONG LIVE DREAMCAST!!!

Well, lighters don't require outlets, I'll give you that much

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Do you have stairs in your house?

My coworker had one of those fake lighters that when you try to light it, you shock yourself. I kept shocking myself, I even put it up to my head and shocked myself. My coworkers were like "Geez what a freak"

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I can't think of anything to put here right now.