And Hypersonic Flight

Making ElectricityHOW TO BUILD AN ELECTROSTATICINDUCTION GENERATOR by Thoula FrangosThe first observation of electrostaticsprobably occurred with thecave man, who noticed that if hestroked fur it would get "charged,"and that in the dark he could observesparks on the fur. By at least the year600 BC, the Greeks of Thales observedthat rubbing amber caused itto be "charged," attracting dust andother light particles.A scientist, however, must domore than just observe; he mustmake hypotheses and experiments.William Gilbert was a scientist in thissense. While a physician to QueenElizabeth in about the year 1600, Gilbertbecame the first to do extensiveresearch in magnetism and electrostatics.He wrote the famous bookDe Magnete, but he had no machinefor collecting charge and makingelectricity.The first electrostatic generatorwas invented in 1660 by the ingeniousOtto von Guricke. It was a friction-typegenerator where the experimenterproduced charges byrubbing his hand on a smooth sulfurball mounted on a shaft. It was notuntil the next century, in 1753, however,that induction of charge wasdiscovered by the English scientistJohn Canton. His experimentsshowed that an object that collectedcharge would induce the oppositecharge in another object. Canton wasalso the first scientist in England toverify Benjamin Franklin's hypothesison the nature of electricity.In 1787, another English physicist,Abraham Bennet, invented the firstelectrostatic induction generator,called "Bennet's Doubler." Afterthat, there were continuous improvementson this device, each capableof producing greater voltage,or energy, than the previous ones.A Modern Induction GeneratorMore recently, A.D. Moore, anAmerican professor, designed a simplerdevice using Bennet's principle.He called it Dirod 2 because its basicparts were a disc and rods. Dirod 2was designed especially to teach studentsthe basics of electricity and engines.The experimenter generates electricitywhen he rotates a crank, causingeach of 12 metal rods to pick upcharges from the inductors andStuart K. LewisDirod 2 as built by Dr. Robert Moon ofthe Fusion Energy Foundation:58 January-February 1986 FUSION The Young Scientist