After you've seen a Van De Graaff generator in action: the big loud sparks, the power to make hair stand straight up, and the constant sizzling and crackling of live static electricity - you would think it was a machine of extensive complexity and advanced technology. But when you remove the dome and the base cover to look inside the machine, the simplicity of the device is remarkable. Two pulleys, a belt, wire combs, a metal dome, an electric motor, and a plastic column. No computers, no high-powered transformers. It is amazing that a machine made of such common components, first designed and built back in the 1930s, can put on such a dramatic display of power.
ABOVE RIGHT: A Van De Graaff machine, a larger 3-foot tall tabletop model.
ABOVE: Close-up view of lightning-like 6-inch long sparks from a tabletop Van De Graaff machine striking the hand of the operator. More VDG Photos
Safe and powerful, the Van De Graaff machine is quite possibly the ideal electrostatic generator. Even small tabletop models are capable of reaching hundreds of thousands of volts of potential. That's enough energy to make anyone's hair stand on end and create big, bright and loud sparks longer than any other type of electrostatic machine. Unlike Tesla coils and Marx impulse generators, small Van De Graaff machines and their sparks are safe to touch and handle. The buildup and sudden release of charge in a Van De Graaff's spark resembles a lightning strike more than the continuous arc of a Tesla coil, making it a good simulator of natural lightning.
My work is, at this very moment you are reading this, generating the most income it ever has in my career. Yet, I was forced to shut down the professional side of my successul operation, against my will, due to one cause alone: 95% of that revenue is being stolen by piracy and copyright infringement. I've lost more than $1 million to copyright infringement in the last 15 years, and it's finally brought an end to my professional storm chasing operation. Do not be misled by the lies of infringers, anti-copyright activists and organized piracy cartels. This page is a detailed, evidenced account of my battle I had to undertake to just barely stay in business, and eventually could not overcome. It's a problem faced by all of my colleagues and most other creators in the field.
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From Dan: Please Read
To my regular readers, I offer my apologies for this heavy-handed notice. Unfortunately it has become necessary, so please bear with me!
Please don't copy/upload this site's content to social media or other web sites. Those copies have been a critical problem for me, seriously harming this site and my photography/storm chasing operation by diverting traffic, viewers, engagement and income. "Credit" and "exposure" does not benefit this site or my operation, rather they threaten my ability to cover my operating expenses. Please read my full explanation for this notice here.
Before continuing, check each box to agree to and acknowledge these two statements:
Click this button to finalize this acknowledgement:
This chase was a routine television assignment in my role as a cameraman. As a result, many of these don't have a dedicated chase log.
This chase was only recorded in my mileage reports, no detailed log was written for it.
