Fusor Forums

Hi Folks:

A few years ago I read a book called Temperatures High and Low reprinted by Dover books. In this book were many arc powered gizmos. But the one that caught my eye was was the plasma gun. It turns out that this device is a WW2 device turned up by Operation Paper Clip. It is a little known curious device..
not as famous as say a V2 Rocket or Jet Planes.

"German electromagnetic cannons were retrieved by the Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-committee in 1945, which reportedly were capable of firing lightning balls into the atmosphere (8),"

Some one was kind enough to put the diagram into the High Lo
Book. It is simple as pie. When I was 13 years old I got kicked out of science fair for bringing a homemade arc furnance to school. A coupla years later when I was 15 I took the diagram and build a plasma spitter gun. The one I made could shoot plasma up about 3 feet. I used a motor starting capacitor .
Latter reading about the fusion ball experiments I tried high voltages.... Ball went higher. It was a good start into Ca experiments.
This is as bright as a arc welder so eye protection is needed.
Operating instructions strike an arc by almost touching the carbons. Pull the arc out to 1" discharge path.
The wire that runs below the arc (1/2" below) creates a standing magnetic field when the cap discharges through the arc.
It repells the plasma in the arc away at high speeds.
Carefull to move away from the device ...the balls burn hard.
Put a metal sheet in the yard to prevent fires...wish I'd thought of that.
The arc is run by a 1000 volt 350 amp Altronics special rectifier hooked into one line of the 110 volt line.
I used 10 kv as my driving voltage and a automotive coil to trigger a spark gap.
That gap is as loud as a 12 gauge shotgun.
Being in the county has it's little charms.
I used a light dimmer and 110 volt moter starting cap hooked to a automotive coil. The blocking caps are 470 pf @30 kv to keep high voltage out of the line. The coil will need'em too.
You need a remote trigger unit as these flaming plasma balls can be shot up 10 feet depending on the voltage. The balls last about a second or two after they reach their zenith.
If you want to keep your house don't do this indoors.
All high voltage concerns apply here plus noise ,blinding light.
Like a coin crusher .
Right up our alley Huh?
This is not a toy....be safe and not sorry.

>>>>>>>>> Notice<<<<<<<<
If you accept this mission Mr Phelps you are on your own.
Building this device, the builder assumes all liabilty for resulting deaths and property damage.
Screwups are punishable by death.
Have a nice day!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>*********<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Here's the diagram below.

Happy Fusoring!
Larry Leins
Fusor Tech

Larry, i think you forgot the diagram. Sounds interesting though.

Adam

Hi Adam:

Just finished it.
I will put more details in shortly.

Happy Fusoring!
Larry Leins
Fusor Tech

Larry,

Do you have any more details? The Power Point files looks like it was choked off.

Hey Larry,

I am in deep s**t!! The wife caught me "borrowing" a couple of flower pots and the brass curtain rail in the living room. Could not think of suitable excuse! Ah well, back to the workshop...

Cheers, Peter Hammond

I used to make 120V carbon arc lamps using two pencil leads in series with a hair dryer for current limiting. You could use that with a diode to make the arc then pulse the deflection circuit with a capacitor bank. Sync it all to 60HZ with a rotary spark gap and make it a full-auto plasma machine cannon. Use a small Tesla coil or voltage multiplier circuit to start the arc (like a TIG welder), make the hair dryer fan motor the sync RSG and fit it all inside the case. I can picture it now - the full-auto hair dryer plasma cannon.

I searched everywhere on the net for this thing. Cant find hardly a thing. You would think there would be some sort of amateur effort into a contraption like this(kinda like those microwave oven plasma balls).

Larry, how well does this thing really work. Does it shoot up a well defined spherical plasma or just a ragged flame ?

Mark Rowley

Eek! This is killing me... what is on the left? It's chopped off!!!!
Also, where can one find a copy of that book?

Also, am I correct by saying that this is just a capacitor that arcs between two pieces of carbon? That would solve what's on the left.

Hi Guys:

You can get that book at http://www.alibris.com
.
The part on the left is a straight line plug to the wall.
The original used a salt water rectifier made from a mason jar.
But today you can get high amperage diodes from Altronic for a few dollars.
It shoots up fire balls...spherical hot and nasty.
Tried to get a temp once with a glass thermometer melted the tip.

Happy Fusoring!
Larry Leins
Fusor Tech

The book is very cheap($ 8.95). I just ordered one. Here is the link.

http://store.doverpublications.com/048624072x.html

Are the fire balls 'FIRE' or are they 'PLASMA' ? It would be a shame to put effort into making an expensive Roman Candle.

Mark Rowley

Hi Mark:

really a plasma.
It lasts due to the leidenfrost effect.

Happy Fusoring!
Larry Leins
Fusor Tech

This thing could be scaled up. A MOT (or more MOTs in paralel) can provide a massive arc to be fired. With a 30-40 kV, 5-10 uF cap bank this could be a really neat burgler annihilator .
Or attach it to the roof of your car. Mad Max frenzy.
Anyway, i think i'll try this one day. For some reason, building destructive things has it's beauty.
Like a nuclear bomb...you can hardly ever see such a beautiful , and magnificent explosion. You can feel the power.
Yet, it is capable of killing millions of human lifes.

Adam

i have to agree. it's like a tesla coil, you build it, and it makes really nice sparks... but what do you do with it?
then people ask why you built it... "because i wanted to"
there is just something about a powerful discharge.

this one is a project that i have almost finished.

Q

Q, try to post some pics when you get it done.

Mark Rowley

Hi Guys:

I forgot to mention that to get really long lasting arcs you need an ionoizing agent like aquaous lithium chloride or Bromide.
Use strontium chloride for bright red.
Barium chloride for bright green.
I used 10 grams in a 2 cup measuring cup of deionized water.
I used a lantern wick to feed it in ...it is self regulating...it burns away.

Happy Fusoring!
Larry Leins
Fusor Tech

How long do these things last? How far do they go?
How often do you need to replace the carbon rods?
Where do you put the ionizing agent?
So really all this device does is put an arc from a capacitor in between the two carbon rods? It doesn't pre-ionize the air first?

Hi Liam:

The wick goes into the center of the arc.
A 6 " wick will last a month of continous firings.
A Coalman Lantern wick will do.
The idea is to get a hot broad spark between the electrodes.
I can usually pull the rods 3 " apart while making an arc.
In 3 years of running the carbons never needed replacement.

Happy Fusoring!
Larry Leins
Fusor Tech

Larry,
So this Strontium or Bromide acts as a medium for the plasma to operate in ? This sounds quite similar to microwave oven plasma. In the microwave, the plasma uses a medium of carbon(ie. smoke) to operate in. Is this a correct assumption ?

From reading your post it seems that this will not work without these mediums.

Mark Rowley

Hi Mark:

It won't last more than four feet without the ionizing agents.
These agents when ionised perpetuate the plasma for a few seconds more so you can get more height.
The longest fireball time is 3 seconds at 100 joules.
They never hit the ground unless they hit something to reflect them like a power line!

Carefull Yall these things take no prisoners if they happen to hit dry leaves or a stack of newspapers or trash pile.

Happy Fusoring!
Larry Leins
Fusor Tech

Do you think you could magnetically or elctrostaiclly capture one of these plasma balls?
Then mabey "feed it" to keep it up and running? Just a fun thought

Maybe feed it with deuterium. Would you get sufficient maxwellian heating for fusion with a big enough pulse?

I strongly doubt that this would work. . I don't think that a simple 330 or 170 V (regulated mains) arc would be "hot" enough for fusion.
Anyway, this is what tokamaks are doing at large scale (if i recall correctly, they even used high power discharges to heat up the plasma, but the ions are not created via an arc), but there the temperatures (or ion energies) achieved are much higher.
As said many times, the fusor is much more efficient, as it directly collides deuterons.
In a tokamak, the ions collide in all directions, and just a very small percentage does that head-on. A lot of energy wasted.

Adam

I was thinking of the Z-Pinch device when I wrote this, as it uses high energy discharges to heat a plasma to high temperatures and get fusion. The magnetic field is merely a product of the electric current that flows through the plasma. Now that I think about it, the plasmoid in the accelerator device is at atmospheric pressure, so mean free path would probably be too low.

here's a thought, make a coaxial version of this thing.
it might be somewhat like an atmospheric spheromak...

Q

Fusion at atmospheric pressure's might be impossible, but the experience gained from trying to manipulate a plasma ball in open air conditions without time consuming and expensive containment and vacuum might be directly utilized in fusion experiments not to mention the eureka factor from accidental discovers. Besides it sounds like a lot of fun, so I ask again
How would you capture and keep it alive?