Quote:
Originally posted by ckelly
RobTV
How does one do that? I've seen pix of people with lightbulbs not hooked up to anything lit up, as well as some holding flourescent tubes.
Chris
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Chris,
If you hold a luminous tube or lamp that contains low pressure inert or noble gas in a high voltage radio frequency field it will illuminate like a neon sign. In the case of the photo of me above the actual tungsten filaments were emitting white light from being heated to incandescence from ion bombardment of the tungsten filament. I was standing in the proximity of a large, specially constructed non-sparking Tesla coil just out of the camera's view. The field between the generator and my head was over 100,000 volts/meter. A Tesla Coil is the usual device employed to generate the HV RF field. The radio frequency energy is of a frequency too high for the human nervous system to 'feel'. That is why there is little or no shock felt during these stunts if orchestrated correctly and safely. It should be cautioned that electricity is dangerous and can kill. Such experiments as these should only be attempted by trained professionals. I used to build Tesla coils for science centers and educational institutions and can put on an interestng electricity show.
Here is another picture of the same effect with a clear 1000 watt ltungsten filament lamp showing the ionized plasma of argon gas inside the bulb. That was a heavy mouthful!
The 5U4 rectifier tube in the TV was undergoing a similar reaction but it was the 60Hz high voltage winding of the power transformer causing the gas which had apparently leaked into the old 5U4 to glow. The current flow would have been quite high and the power transformer would have started to smoke in short order from a near short circuit load.
Rob