by Nathan Natas 30 Replies latest watchtower bible
I just got a brain-flash. If one were to build a scale model box out of wood... one might be able to easily line it with aluminum foil.
Well, that would create a Leyden jar, as you suggest, but the experiment is to mimick, as near as possible, the Ark as described in the Bible, is it not? Therefore the wood needs to be rather thickly inlaid with whatever metal is chosen, I guess. Al certainly is cheaper and lighter (and definitely a good conductor).
Imagine the look on their faces when a team of apostate techno-priests carries a functioning ark into a district convention! "Oops! don't touch that box!"
I must admit, if we can get a static arc jumping between the Cherubim (arcing the Ark, as it were), it should look very impressive!
"...Al certainly is cheaper and lighter (and definitely a good conductor)"
Well... after I posted my original 'brain-flash', I looked in my Machinist's handbook.
There is a chart listing the various attributes of metals. If we consider Silver as having a conductivity of 100 (or 100%), then we look at other metals...
Copper = 97.61
Gold = 76.61
Aluminum = 63.0
Brass = ... (it is not considered conductive? no percentage was given)
Sooooooo... if a copper lining could be used, I'd say that the leyden jar might perform a tad better.
I was also trying to figure out why that the fellas waaaaay back when used gold. I looked at the melting points of the metals... and gold is not much different than copper... or silver.
I suppose it has to do with the 'precious' value associated with it... plus... didn't they go around confiscating all of the gold jewelry (err... I mean - getting donations) of the fellow Isrealites?
Anywho... that's my .02 worth.
Regards,
Jim TX
I'm open to suggestions, and I think Jim_TX has made a good case for using Copper, which is relatively easy to obtain in sheets and easy to fabricate into the required shapes.
Brass in an alloy of copper and zinc. It does conduct electricity, but probably not as well as copper.
It may be that with the use of copper we have already improved on "God's" design!
Well, this is interesting, Nathan.
Looks to me like there might be a couple of fundamental electrical issues with this:
1. How much voltage/current would it take to do a coronal discharge out in plain air? ( probably a lot of voltage, even if small amperage ).
2. How much voltage/current would it take to strike somebody dead (i.e. electocute them) if they touched it? ( a lot less, I would guess - maybe a half an amp at 50 or 60 volts? ).
3. I wonder how and if that much voltage could be stored and/or produced from the type of device proposed?
This might very well be worth some basic research before actually starting to build such a thing...
James
...and where did the cavemen of the era get the necessary power to charge up the Leyden jar? I don't recall the Jews leading the world in science or discovering at the time...
Here are lethal power specs: http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~p616/safety/fatal_current.html
Why don't you submit it to the guys at Mythbusters? They'd build it and then test its lethality. I could see the "Ark of the Covenant" being a ratings-grabbing episode.
been done, mythbusters did it this is the episode.
I was going to post earlier but couldn't find the episode.
Episode 29: Cooling a Six-Pack
The mystery is finally over! Watch as the MythBusters use ice, water, refrigerators, freezers and fire to test the fastest way to cool a six-pack. Then the team builds a new crash-test dummy ... and drops it 60 feet from a crane. The result is baptism by destruction for Buster 2.0, and a high-speed, high-impact crash the likes of which ... well, see for yourself. And finally, they may not have had iPods or remote controls to use them in, but did ancient peoples have batteries? Learn whether a crude form was invented more than 2,000 years ago.
premiere: March 23, 2005
not enough current
That's an interesting suggestion Leolaia, except that the more I watch mythbusters the more I am critical of their design prowess - not that I am not a monkey with a wrench myself. Recently I have discovered some of the videos from "BRAINIAC - SCIENCE ABUSE" that are out on the web. The Brainiac video on the alkali metals is way beyond anything the mythbusters would do. Check it out!
...but I digress.
Sinis, the charging of a leyden jar - in fact, any capacitor - can happen simply by the nature of it's construction. The ark would draw electrons from it's environment and they would continue to accumulate until the charge was dissipated, either with a snappy arc to ground or a slowly glowing shekinah light (corona effect).
James_Woods, yes, there are some electrical considerations, and the device could be potentially lethal. I have worked with commercial flash units in the past - units that used two 20"flash tubes in series, and I am here to tell the tale. One of the stories from the days of yore when this equipment was being engineered was that these flash units would be demonstrated by placing a hot dog across the output terminals of the flash power supply and throwing the switch, at which time the hotdog would VAPORIZE.... LOUDLY!
A corona effect can be created in free air at sea level with less than 2000 volts. This capacitor will probably be able to easily exceed that voltage. Speaking of voltage, did you know that when you jump a spark to a doorknob in winter you are discharging at least 600 volts?
Seeing the violet corona effect: It helps if the observation area is dark.
Hey!
The "holy of holies" in the tabernacle was a pretty dark room, wasn't it? I wonder if it smelled of ozone?
I don't recall anyone saying they saw the shekinah light in broad daylight. There was the "cloud effect" and I'll admit I don't know what that might have been. Maybe if we get this thing built we can find out.
The "bagdad battery" was not a leyden jar and certainly wasn't the ark of the covenant.
I doubt that Mythbusters has the stones to attempt the ark. Too controvesial for them, I'll bet.
