I have here a vandergraaf generator and i ran some tests with it.
Not one buble sofar.
I tried several setups. Two electrodes in the waterbath. Also one electrode in the bath and the cup with water on the metal hood....
Maybe somebody else have ideas on how to get the charge from the VDG into a waterbath?
You have to use an Intermediate Electrode (IE). A small cymbol from a drum set works quite well, but the lid from a sauce pan might also work. The IE is centered and suspended a short distance above the top of the VdG. This will cause thin little sparks to discharge from the VdG to the bottom of the IE. With an unconnected IE, after a while a heavy yellow spark will shoot from the top of the VdG to the middle of the IE, and a lot of yellow sparks will shoot out from the edge of the IE. Every pair of these rim sparks will fork together, kicking the cymbol off to one side or another. (Just like a flying saucer, but without enough energy to lift.)
The connection wire from the IE to the Cell should have around eight losely spaced windings around a half inch air core, to prevent the main discharge from going to the Cell, should it happen. Other wise, pulses to the Cell will occur with the little sparks between the VdG and the IE. With more than one Cell, each should be connected to its own region of the IE. The cell's other electrode should be grounded.
