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An electrostatic generator, or electrostatic machine, is an electrical generator that produces static electricity, or electricity at high voltage and low continuous current. The knowledge of static electricity dates back to the earliest civilizations, but for millennia it remained merely an interesting and mystifying phenomenon , without a ...
Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material. The charge remains until it can move away by an electric current or electrical discharge . The word "static" is used to differentiate it from current electricity , where an electric charge flows through an electrical conductor .
A Van de Graaff generator is an electrostatic generator which uses a moving belt to accumulate electric charge on a hollow metal globe on the top of an insulated column, creating very high electric potentials. It produces very high voltage direct current (DC) electricity at low current levels.
Illustration of tribocharge generated from a sliding drop. The generation of static electricity from the relative motion of liquids or gases is well established, with one of the first analyses in 1886 by Lord Kelvin in his water dropper which used falling drops to create an electric generator. [114]
The Kelvin water dropper, invented by Scottish scientist William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) in 1867, [1] is a type of electrostatic generator. Kelvin referred to the device as his water-dropping condenser. The apparatus is variously called the Kelvin hydroelectric generator, the Kelvin electrostatic generator, or Lord Kelvin's thunderstorm.
The glass tube was a less effective static generator than the globe, but it became more popular because it was easier to use. [2] Machines that generated static electricity with a glass disc were popular and widespread in Europe by 1740. [3]
Summerville’s strange light phenomenon might be shallow earthquakes in the area that could have released a water-soluble gas like radon or methane, which then got ignited by a spark of static ...
Electrostatic generator, machines that create static electricity. Electrostatic induction, separation of charges due to electric fields. Permittivity and relative permittivity, the electric polarizability of materials. Quantization of charge, the charge units carried by electrons or protons.