Howdy, I'm hoping that somebody can help me find the name of the type of device I'm thinking of (Google has been zero help)...
I recall a point in childhood where I was in a museum of electricity and was fascinated by an old display from the "come see the miracle of electricity" days. If I'm not mistaken it was a non-conductive (wooden?) board, sealed inside of a glass case. I don't know if it was in a vacuum or filled with some type of gas, or if the glass was just there to protect the device / prevent corrosion. Anyway, on the board were many small strips of metal separated by small gaps that were arranged such that it was like they drew shapes with dotted lines. This was then connected to an electrostatic generator (likely Van de Graaff but not 100% sure). It resulted in chains of little sparks jumping between all of the strips and made it look like the sparks were walking along the path.
I KNOW that I've seen these in multiple configurations in different videos demonstrating electrostatics, but for the life of me, I can't find one (or even just a picture) to offer up as an example. Is there anyone that knows what I'm talking about, and if so, does this device have a name that I can actually point to?
Thank you for your time, and thank you in advance for any help you might be able to offer.
I recall a point in childhood where I was in a museum of electricity and was fascinated by an old display from the "come see the miracle of electricity" days. If I'm not mistaken it was a non-conductive (wooden?) board, sealed inside of a glass case. I don't know if it was in a vacuum or filled with some type of gas, or if the glass was just there to protect the device / prevent corrosion. Anyway, on the board were many small strips of metal separated by small gaps that were arranged such that it was like they drew shapes with dotted lines. This was then connected to an electrostatic generator (likely Van de Graaff but not 100% sure). It resulted in chains of little sparks jumping between all of the strips and made it look like the sparks were walking along the path.
I KNOW that I've seen these in multiple configurations in different videos demonstrating electrostatics, but for the life of me, I can't find one (or even just a picture) to offer up as an example. Is there anyone that knows what I'm talking about, and if so, does this device have a name that I can actually point to?
Thank you for your time, and thank you in advance for any help you might be able to offer.