JohnCU's electrical experiment #34941

[JohnCU]

So I'm messing with some burned out resistors this morning and they are pretty much open circuit, 36 Mohms last reading. I looked over at my bottle of water and wondered what would happen if I submerged the resistor in water, left the two leads sticking out, and put 1100 volts across it? (note: the source i am using limits the current to 21 mA when sourcing such high voltage).

so I do and get a cool looking, lasting arc/flame looking thing when clamp one end to the sourcemeter and touch the other end with the other probe. It heats up and melts the end of the resistor. I took some readings and found out that the resistance drops to about 33kOhms in the water, which makes sense since the water is not pure and is bypassing the burned out resistance.

but then I get curious as to why I can keep the arc going indefinitely. If I touch them together and leave them connected, then there is no heat or sparks, but when I pull them apart a little I get a bunch of heat and melting and a purple stream of electrons.

I tried to do the same with a paper clip, but all I get is a spark, no arcing. Maybe that's because the paperclip (in water) has so little resistance that the energy shoots through and doesn't need to arc...

I also just tried sticking one probe in the water, then sticking in the other, and got another stream of purpleness coming off the water. I think it's just something that happens with water, I'm not sure... i'll try to get pics.

EDIT:
pic with phone, sorry for crappy quality.

pic #2

 

[woowoo]

Dude,
You need to get a job working on transmitters.
Your a natural
(32Kv is fun)

 

[edro]

Add salt and give us results.

 

[JohnCU]

Added salt, lost the ability to keep an arc 🙁

conclusion: lower resistance, less arcing.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Remind me again, at what school are you studying EE?

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Remind me again, at what school are you studying EE?

Clemson University in SC

 

[JohnCU]

hm, I washed out the cup thing real well and tried it with pure water, no arcing. Added maybe 10 grains of salt, better arcing. I think there is a fine range where you either have too much or too little resistance to get the arc going. i'm not sure, i haven't studied arcing yet.