So New as to be non-human to electronics and circuitry

Thread Starter

Greggamma

Joined Feb 28, 2016
5
OK, a little background. I like to challenge "new age" technology and pseudoscience with self experimentation. So, I made a Quartz crystal "crown" to experiment with. Now it has 34 1-2" quartz crystals attached with 6 wrappings of copper wire around a copper frame; 3 each direction so it forms and "X" over the center of the crystal. They are roughly 1/2" apart. These are wrapped around a 2" piece of stout copper sheeting and the sheeting/band is soldered together at the ends.
So, in theory , I was going to create a magnetic field and pressurize the quartz crystals with low voltage DC current to increase their vibration. However, when I used a 9 volt battery , alligator clipped to the front and back of the "crown," This is what happened.1) No reading on my volt meter 2) The battery made a "pop" sound 3) The battery got hot. Almost too hot to touch. What happened? What did or didn't I do? Do I need a switch, resistor or something I don't know about yet. I am ONLY using DC current with my experimentation. ANY feedback is much appreciated. Thank You ahead of time.
 

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djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
Do you know what a short circuit is? You likely completely shorted out your battery and the surge of practically infinite current made it get hot, it had a little explosion internally (pop) and then died.

Read up on Ohm's Law first. Before you can understand what you did wrong, you will need to understand how DC current works.
 

blocco a spirale

Joined Jun 18, 2008
1,546
You have over-driven the crystals causing them to vibrate too much and they have fed negative energy back into the battery.

Don't feel bad, we've all done it.
 

Thread Starter

Greggamma

Joined Feb 28, 2016
5
Do you know what a short circuit is? You likely completely shorted out your battery and the surge of practically infinite current made it get hot, it had a little explosion internally (pop) and then died.

Read up on Ohm's Law first. Before you can understand what you did wrong, you will need to understand how DC current works.
Yes I know what a short circuit is about. Ohms law ok. Thanks.
 

Thread Starter

Greggamma

Joined Feb 28, 2016
5
Do you know what a short circuit is? You likely completely shorted out your battery and the surge of practically infinite current made it get hot, it had a little explosion internally (pop) and then died.

Read up on Ohm's Law first. Before you can understand what you did wrong, you will need to understand how DC current works.
So I read and watched Ohm's law. Do I surmise correctly that I need a resistor to step down the voltage to the amount of mA I want going into the device?
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
So I read and watched Ohm's law. Do I surmise correctly that I need a resistor to step down the voltage to the amount of mA I want going into the device?
That is one informed approach. Usually to generate an electromagnetic field, many turns of wire is needed. If the wire is thin, less turns are needed, but the resistance is higher - which is a good thing. In this case, the current will be lower and a battery would last longer. Some electromagnets have 1,500-2,000 turns. Your crown had one half turn of wide copper times two, looking like a dead short to the battery and destroying it within seconds.
 

wallaby

Joined Jul 26, 2011
34
Right now you have too little resistance in your coils... you might as well put a nail across the terminals of your battery. The addition of a flashlight bulb might be a simple solution, or if you really want a magnetic field you can rewind your coils with like 1000 ft of 36awg magnet wire. Big wire with few wraps makes a weak magnet unless you have a strong power supply like a car battery.
I am a level 1 electronics tinkerer and know nothing.... but I'm trying to be constructive
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,978
It's hard to make any suggestions about what you might do differently, because I can't tell what you were trying to accomplish in the first place. That's mostly because it is hard to reduce new-age technobabble to actual circuits to test those theories -- but I applaud you for trying.

As others have pointed out, if you are using bare copper wire then you are just creating a whole bunch of shorts and the battery is supplying lots of current to a very small section of wire.

If you use insulated wire then you can avoid the shorts.

If you are trying to create some kind of magnetic field around the crystals, then you want to be sure that the currents in the wires are going in the same direction, otherwise you end up canceling out most of your field.
 
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