Scientific Teaching, Analysis and Research
Experiment #1 consisted of a 0.000 000 3 farad capacitor constructed from "balloon grade" polyester film and aluminum foil plates. It weighed 159 grams. The bonding agent was a common spray glue.
The capacitor was designed to withstand well over 10 000 volts. It failed at about 500 volts (with the usual light display). The observer did not observe any movement on the balance pointer.
An examination of the failed capacitor indicated that the cause of failure was a combination of the pigment on the polyester film, the degradation of the film caused by the bonding agent and by the bonding agent itself.
This experiment was conducted on 1-27-99 at 8:30 am (EST)