photo credit: Casey Henkle; image source; larger image

Dr. MegaVolt

This photo shows Dr. Megavolt--particle physicist Austin Richards--wearing a metal body-suit in one of his Tesla coil performances.  The Tech section of Dr. MegaVolt explains the physics of the Tesla coil.  Also, don't miss the Megavolt Demo Video, reached from the Gallery, and also the photographs in the Gallery itself.

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Charge and Carry

To learn about electrostatic charge, go to PhET simulations and click on "Balloons and Static Electricity" and "John Travoltage."

For activities on electricity, try the Exploratorium's Electrical Fleas and Charge and Carry.

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image credit: Institute Archives and Special Collections, MIT Libraries, Cambridge, Massachusetts; image source; larger image

Van de Graaff Generator

This MIT time-lapse photo shows the historic Van de Graaff electrostatic accelerator during a test run--you can find out more and view related photos at Illustration from Report on Van de Graaff Generator.  To learn about the Van de Graaff accelerator, see this page from the Nuclear Wallchart website.

Faraday's Cage

- Watch this simple demonstration from MIT to see a Faraday cage protect a Benjamin Franklin figure from an electric field.

- Dr. Megavolt's bodysuit is a form-fitting Faraday cage--to see a full-size cage in action, check out this video from the University of Bonn: Faraday Cage Protects from 100,000 V

- Also see this video on the Tesla coil: Tesla coil, Faraday Cage 2

- For the physics of the Faraday cage, see this Wikipedia article.