How does a Van de Graaff generator operate?

Van de Graaff generator was invented by the American scientist Robert J. Van de Graaff (1901-
1967) in 1931. Based on the principle of charging by friction, the generator can produce a large
amount of charge. The figure shows the model commonly used in schools. It contains a rubber
belt set into motion by a plastic roller. Static electricity is generated by the friction or by a high
voltage at a pointed electrode (Fig. 1). The rolling rubber belt then carries the charge to the inner
surface of the spherical metal cover. Due to mutual repulsion, the charge is repelled to the outer
surface of the spherical cover, and hence a large amount of charge will accumulate there.

What are the applications of the generator?

Van de Graaff generator can produce a voltage of over 10 million volts on its spherical cover. In
nuclear physics, such a high voltage can be used to accelerate various kinds of charged particles,
like protons, electrons etc. Moreover, the generator can be used to demonstrate many interesting
phenomena of static electricity. For examples, it can make your hair stand upright, attract a metal
ball (Fig. 2) or a polystyrene ball, produce an electric spark, and generate electric wind to set a
mini-windmill into rotation. Through these phenomena, we can understand more about the nature
of static electricity.

Making hair stand upright

We can stand on an insulated chair, and put our hands the spherical metal cover of the generator.
Since human body can conduct electricity, charge will be transferred to our body when the
generator begins to operate; and because of the mutual repulsion of charge, the hair will stand
upright.

Attracting a polystyrene ball

When a polystyrene ball is placed close to the generator, the charges inside the molecules of the
ball will be redistributed. In a molecule, the positive and the negative charges will be slightly
separated, producing the phenomenon of polarization. In this case the charge on the spherical
cover will produce a slight attractive force on the opposite charges in the molecules, and hence
the whole polystyrene ball will be attracted.

Producing electric spark

When a small grounded metal ball is placed close to the spherical cover of the generator, the
strong electric field will cause the charge to leap towards the ball, producing a large amount of
ions and electrons in air. Since the energy of the ions are higher than that of the neutral
molecules, they will release their energy spontaneously and produce a spark, which is a
discharge in air. Lightning, for example, is a discharge phenomenon in which charge leaps from
a cloud to another or to the ground.

Producing electric wind

A sharp point on a charged conductor has a higher surface charge density which will generate a
stronger electric field. The strong electric field ionizes the air molecules surrounding the sharp
point, and those ions or electrons which have charge opposite to that of the conductor will be
attracted towards the sharp point, while those ions or electrons with the same charge will be
repelled. This phenomenon is called the point effect. The moving ions drag air molecules into
motion, producing an electric wind that can turn a mini-windmill.

Applications of static electricity in daily life

The are many applications of static electricity in daily life, including photocopying, electrostatic
precipitator and electrostatic spraying. Besides, knowing more about static electricity can help us
to prevent possible hazards. For example, a vehicle carrying inflammable materials has an iron
chain attached to its rear; this transfers charge to the ground to prevent fire caused by sparks. For
the same reason, since oxygen and inflammable anaesthetic are often used in a hospital, the floor
of an operating room is usually anti-static, and all the instruments have to be grounded. This
prevents explosion caused by sparks.

Theory:

The American physicist, Dr. Robert Jemison Van de Graaff invented the
Van de Graaff generator in 1931. The device has the ability to produce
extremely high voltages - as high as 20 million volts. Van de Graaff
invented the generator to supply the high energy needed for early particle
accelerators. These accelerators are known as atom smashers because
they accelerates the sub atomic particles to very high speeds and then
smash them in to the target atoms. The resulting collision creates other
sub atomic particles and high energy radiations such as X-rays. The
ability to create these high energy collisions is the foundation of particle
and nuclear physics.

Working of the generator is based on two principles:

1. Discharging action of sharp points, ie., electric discharge takes place in air or gases readily, at
pointed conductors.
2. If the charged conductor is brought in to internal contact with a hollow conductor, all of its
charge transfers to the surface of the hollow conductor no matter how high the potential of the
latter may be.
Theory behind construction:

If we have a large conducting spherical shell of radius R on which we place a charge Q, it

spreads itself uniformly all over the sphere. The field outside the sphere is just that of a point
charge Q at the centre, while the field inside the sphere vanishes. So the potential outside is that
of point charge and inside it is constant.

The potential inside the conducting sphere =

Now suppose that we introduce a small sphere of radius r, carrying a charge q, into the large
one and place it at the centre. The potential due to this new charge has following values.

Potential due to small sphere of radius r carrying charge

Potential at the surface of large shellof radius R .

Taking both charges q and Q in to account we have for the total potential V and the potential
difference given by,
Now assume that q is positive. We see that, independent of the amount of charge Q that may
have accumulated on the larger sphere, it is always at a higher potential: the difference V(r) -
V(R) is positive. The potential due to Q is constant upto radius R and so cancels out in the
difference.

This means that if we connect the smaller and larger sphere by a wire, the charge q on the former
will immediately flow on to the matter, even though the charge Q may be quite large. The natural
tendency is for positive charge to move higher to lower potential. Thus, provided we are
somehow able to introduce the small charged sphere into the larger one, we can in this way pile
up larger and larger amount of charge on the latter. The potential of the outer sphere would also
keep rising, at least until it reaches the breakdown field of air.

Construction:

It consists of a large metal sphere mounted on

high insulating supports. An endless belt b,
made of insulating material such as rubber,
passes over the vertical pulleys P1 and P2. The
pulley P2 is at the centre of the metal sphere
and the pulley P1 is vertically below P2. The
belt is run by an electric motor M. B1and B2
are two metal brushes called collecting combs.

The positive terminal of a high tension source

(HT) is connected to the comb B1. Due to the
process called action of points, charges are
accumulated at the pointed ends of the comb,
the field increases and ionizes the air near
them. The positive charges in air are repelled
and get deposited on the belt due to corona
discharge. The charges are carried by the belt
upwards as it moves. When the positively charged protion of the belt comes in front of the brush
B2, by the same process of action of points and corona discharge occurs and the metal sphere
acquires positive charges. The positive charges are uniformly distributed over the surface of the
sphere. Due to the action of points by the negative charges carried by the gas in front of the comb
B2, the positive charge of the belt is neutralized. The uncharged portion of the belt returns down
collects the positive charge from B1 which in turn is collected by B2. The charge transfer
process is repeated. As more and more positive charges are imparted to the sphere, its positive
potential goes on rising until a surface maximum is reached. If the potential goes beyond this,
insulation property of air breaks down and the sphere gets discharged. The breakdown of air
takes place in an enclosed steel chamber filled with nitrogen at high pressure.

Simplified Theoretical Description of the Van de Graaff:

Figure 1 illustrates a simple construction of the Van de Graaff generator. A small 12-Vdc
permanent magnetic motor placed at the base end drives a plastic pulley. A rubber belt is
drven by the pulley. As the pulley rotates, it acquires a negative charge from the belt by
triboelectrification. Thus, the inside surface of the rubber belt becomes negatively
charged. By induction, the outside of the belt becomes positively charged. A conducting
brush, referred to as the charge-spray-comb, at the base of the pulley drains the negative
charges on the outside of the belt to ground. At the top of a belt is a metal pulley and a
charge-spray comb which is connected to the "collector," which is the outer metal sphere.
The collection of positive charge continues while the belt is being driven. It is also noted
that one could reverse the charge of the sphere by simply reversing the two pulleys.
Due to the geometry of the outer sphere the free charge will be uniformly distributed
about it's surface. Thus, the electrostatic potential will roughly be Q/(4 Pi epsilon R),
where Q is the total charge on the sphere. As the generator continues to charge, a
potential difference between the sphere and the grounded base of the Van de Graaff can
reach nearly one-half of a million volts. In fact, the sphere will continue to build up
charge until a voltage break down occurs in the air, resulting in an arc between the sphere
and the base, or some other grounded object in close proximity (such as an unsuspecting
finger!). Prior to the breakdown, the air around the sphere becomes ionized. This
ionization is sometimes refered to as an electric wind since one can feel the movement of
the air.
When the motor turns the bottom roller, the friction between the acrylic and the rubber causes
the acrylic to become positively charged. This attracts electrons to the tips of the comb A where
they collect, and then spray via the action of points onto the belt. The belt carries this negative
charge up to the top comb where the same inductive effect occurs, this time the comb tips
become positively charged causing positive charge to spray onto the belt and neutralise the
charge on the belt. The deficiency of positive charge on the collecting sphere continues, leaving
it more and more negatively charged, until the rate of charging equals the rate of discharging to
ground from the dome.

Poor operation can result from dirty or dusty components, poor comb positioning (the combs
should be as close to the belt as possible, adjacent to each roller, but not touching the belt) or
ineffectively slow belt speed. The materials are of some importance. The bottom roller in
particular should be able to produce static easily by rubbing.

We have built a machine that generates 20cm sparks, created from parts bought in hardware
stores and electrical stores. The dome from some types of ceiling-mounted spot-lights can be
used, as these are already spun, and some even have in-turned rims, which is ideal for a Van de
Graaff machine. The belt is more difficult to obtain, and is probably best ordered from a science
equipment supplier who sells replacement belts for commercial machines. The base roller can be
made of acrylic (perspex) which will charge positively, giving the rubber belt a negative charge.
If polythene is used, then the belt, and hence the dome, will receive a positive charge. The top
roller could be anything, but is probably better to be fairly anti-static in nature, since static
electricity produced at the top roller should not contribute to the proper running of the machine.
The supporting pillar should be strong and insulating - not wood. Acrylic or turfnol are good
choices, or ABS, PVC would do also. In our model, the bottom roller is motor driven, and this
motor is controllable both in duty cycle for accumulating controlled doses of charge to the dome,
and in speed for adjusting the peak voltage accumulated at the dome. Our dome is 25cm across
and the machine is about 1m high. The discharge sphere is slightly smaller but doesn't have to
be, and is connected to earth. The combs of the machine which are placed close to, but not
touching, the belt at the top and bottom roller, are made from around forty equal length pins
soldered to a piece of 1mm thick tinned copper wire.

There are many experiments that can be done with the machine. The capacitance between the top
terminal and ground is tiny - only around a few micro-coulombs. Thus even although an
extremely high voltage V can be generated, the stored charge Q is low, according to Q = CV. In
principle the top electrode capacitance can be increased, by connecting is in parallel with Leyden
jars for example, but the discharging rate almost certainly suffers, and although C is greater, V
then reduces, causing Q to increase, but not by the factor you might expect. However the stored
energy in these jars goes as the square of V, and is certainly notably greater than that stored in
the field around the top sphere alone. This makes the discharge from a Leyden jay quite
impressive but also rather dangerous. The capacitance of a typical large Leyden jar is a few
nano-farads, so stores around 1 joule of energy when charged from a modest Van de Graaff
generator. A pair of discharge tongs is strongly recommended.

Of course, another way to increase the capacitance of the machine is to use the human body
connected to the dome, as is done with the volunteer standing on the plastic bucket having his or
her hair standing on end. A spark drawn from such a person to ground will always be more
intense and painful than if the same person were to simply stand on the ground and point to the
dome drawing a park that way.

The electric wind can be demonstrated by attaching a needle to the dome and getting it to point at
a candle flame. The candle flame should clearly be seen to dance in the wind. For large machines
producing more than 150,000V or so, the candle can be placed as far as 1 metre from the needle,
although the effect is different between Van de Graaff generators producing positively and
negatively charged domes. The needle is spraying ions (or electrons) from its point and these
apply a force to the positive ions produced in the flame, causing the flame to move and
interfering with the convection currents, thus making the flame wander randomly.

Hamilton's mill is another demonstration of charge spraying off points. The mill takes the form
of a small pivoted vain ending in spikes pointing against one direction of rotation. When the vain
becomes charged, the spikes spray charge and the reaction produces rotation of the vain. This
demonstration works better with a positively charged dome since the ions have more effective
momentum a

@In electricity, a corona discharge is an electrical discharge brought on by the ionization of a

fluid surrounding a conductor that is electrically energized. The discharge will occur when the
strength (potential gradient) of the electric field around the conductor is high enough to form a
conductive region, but not high enough to cause electrical breakdown or arcing to nearby objects.
It is often seen as a bluish (or other color) glow in the air adjacent to pointed metal conductors
carrying high voltages. Spontaneous corona discharges are undesirable where they waste power
in high-voltage systems or where the high chemical activity in a corona discharge creates
objectionable or hazardous compounds, such as ozone. Controlled corona discharges are used in
a variety of filtration, printing and other processes.nd produce a bigger reactive force.