1. I remember from my teens building a high voltage device from a self vibrating relay configuration that connected 300 volts from a an old 1920's rectifier tube circuit to a 1960's automobile ignition coil. I got a two inch spark gap from coil output to ground. I read in Popular Electronics on how to make an X-ray machine from an old 1920's large tube with a small square of aluminum foil glued to the top of the tube. The foil is grounded, and output from the coil is connected to one of the pins at the bottom of the tube. When my high voltage machine was turned on, blue lightning like electrical streaks flowed from the tube metallic elements inside the tube to the glass under the foil, just like the streaks that flow to your fingers in your plasma globe. Next you put unexposed black & white film stock in a dark room between two pieces of card stock (card board) . Then place a hand, finger, whatever between the foil on your tube, and the film. Then develop the film in a dark room. Viola, you made your own x-ray images. I only did it once because I was cautious that X-rays I knew were dangerous to human cells.

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2. Wait… making ozone? That's awesome; I had no idea! I wonder if it is also making NOx 🤔
   My idea for saving the ozone layer when I was a kid was to make a big damn kite, strongly teathered, up in high altitude where the winds are insane and more constant. Aboard the kite was to be a turbine to generate a high voltage arc.
   I wrote the idea off when it occurred to me that NOx would also be produced. Perhaps instead we could also put aboard the world's tiniest oxygen concentrator?

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3. I have been electrocuted from my guitar amp when I touched one of the big capacitors. There was a huge blue flash and I burned my thumb nail which hurt a lot. I thought it would be safe because the amp had been unplugged for over a week but these caps can hold killer loads for yrs. It's a miracle I am still here because if it had crossed my chest I would be fully dead forever. Still own the amp (Carvin Bel Air) as It sounds the most beautiful all tube design.

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4. Where i use to work we used a small box with a very well insulated probe which had a copper tip it produced 50,000 volts at the tip but with milliamps,it was used to ionise gas filled vaccum tubes and i can say that probe if you got near it gave you a razer sharp jolt on your finger or hand,not sure if it was known as a Hf tester but had a rotary control to turn the juice up.

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5. Your retinas will be damaged more by infrared than UV or blue light. The Blue light fears manufacturers suggest for devices and screens are quite bogus. Your cornea and lens and protein-filled vitreous humor absorb most ultraviolet light and little will reach your retina. During a solar eclipse when the diamond ring stage occurs, it is the intense infrared light that burns a damaging, eventually permanent, imprint into the neural retina. (Because it is dark, people look and pupil is wide open, and the IR does its damage.) Ken Mitton. Eye Research Institute, Oakland University. 🙂

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6. 🤣🤣🤣 Some days ago, I found a plasma ball in my basement. I did not remember, that I had one. I knew the trick with the fluorescent lamp. Then I tried an LED, not really expecting, it would work. It does though. It is required to spread the legs of the LED and the blue LED was the brightest. Red and green worked, too. Some types out of my LED drawer don’t work (probably the less bright, old ones).

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7. Most fun things are dangerous… I agree. I still remember how I got zapped with 400V DC when experimenting with a magic eye tuning indicator and PY88 booster diode I used as a rectifier. Accidentally touched the PY88's cathode with my forehead while touching something at the ground potential with my hand. Ouch, was I scared!

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8. The voltage (at least on the big one) can fluctuate enough in the audio trigger that the arcs will dim and brighten depending on the intensity of the input sound. It actually looks pretty cool with music . I slide my phone just under the base and adjust the volume to get the best looking arc activity.

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