| MadSci Network: Physics |
This is probably about a previous answer:
Can you project static electricity?Electric charge itself cannot be sent through the air. What you really want to do is to send out a narrow stream of electrically charged air, or "electric wind."
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/mar98/889040361.Es.q.html
The usual way to do this is with a source of high voltage
and a sharp metal point. You'll need about 50,000V or 100,000V.
One convenient and safe source of high voltage is a
VandeGraaff generator (see the previous answer.) There
are other ways to create high voltage, but they are
dangerous as well as being more expensive.
It *might* be possible to send out charged wind by using a small fan, and then putting some needles in the stream of air and connecting them to a high voltage power supply. But such a power supply would be dangerous, and it might not work. The stream of air might spread out. After all, alike charges repel. If you use a VDG generator, the charged air gets repelled outwards by the strong charge on the VDG sphere, so it tends to form itself into a stream.
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