How Does a Van de Graaff Generator Work?
The Van De Graaff generator is an energy source. It could produce up to 20 million volts in charge. It is used for various physics experiments. Examples would be particle accelerators, food sterilization, and X-rays among others.
It is the eponymous invention of an American scientist. This was in the year 1931. The Van de Graaf generator is a constant current generator.
Its current is expressed in Amperes. It is static unlike its dynamic voltage value. The different parts of the Van de Graaff generator are the metal globe, insulating belt, the lower and upper assemblies of brushes, a couple of rollers, and a motor. You can create your own Van de Graaf generator but it can only produce a lower voltage.
This is how a Van de Graaff generator works:
1. It all starts with the Roller
The roller will begin to move and roll the belt. It will then attract the belt’s electrons. It will give it a negative charge.
The strong negative charge of the roller will repel the electrons on the brush assembly. The main reason for this is because similar poles repel each other.
The brush assembly is situated above the roller. The electrons of the brush then move on to the brush’s tips. The charge in the lower roller repels the electrons in the air.
It will convert the air into plasma. This is purely positively charged particles.
2. Opposites Attract
The roller and lower part of the brush assembly are highly negative in charge. They can attract positive charges in the air. The protons adhere to the roller and the lower brush but the belt will block the path.
The belt will become charged positively. This positive charge is then carried to the upper part of the generator. The upper portion is the spherical metal.
3. The Sphere
The electrons in the brush are attracted when the positive charge in the belt move to the upper roller. This is situated inside the sphere.
The protons in the air are also attracted to the brush. It will leave free electrons like the lower roller did. The free electrons then become attracted to the positively charged belt.
The presence of two strong charges will make anything that touches the inside of the spherical metal lose its charges.
There are also the “excess charges”. They are the charges responsible for the Van de Graaf’s high voltage.
A Van De Graaff generator could last forever as long as the belt moves and air exists. This is a theory affected by so many factors. Time will be the sole judge of that theory.