Uploaded February 2013 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
4 silver balls, powered by 13,000 volts, spin in opposite directions in concentric tracks. But a funny thing happens when they all spin clockwise.
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator which accelerates charged particles in a spiral trajectory. This model, which only resembles a cyclotron, accelerates four aluminum balls in concentric tracks on a horizontal plane. Each track contains four aluminum strips where one opposing pair is charged with a positive potential of 13KVolts while the other pair is electrically grounded. The current demand is approximately 9 microamps.
We know from physics that for a constant amount of force, the smaller the spinning radius of a mass, the smaller its moment of inertia and the higher its angular velocity - as could be observed with ballerinas and figure skaters when they pull in their arms.
However, in the second half of the video when all balls spin clockwise, the ball with the smallest radius and the one with the next larger radius move in lock step and spin at the same angular velocity. The reason for this seemingly unexpected behavior is that the two balls are in very close proximity and the inductive force between them is so strong that it is the dominating factor rather than the difference in radii. Note that the inner most ball is lagging by about 3/8" (approximately 1 cm) behind the ball that spins in the next track because the two balls carry the same charge polarity and one repels the other - sort of pushes it ahead, no doubt at the cost of a lower angular velocity. The two outer balls do not exhibit the same behavior because their tracks are farther apart from each other.
The tracks are made of plastic food containers and lids which is my way of recycling them.
Note: Each ball moves in a circular motion and constantly accelerates towards the axis of rotation. The acceleration is the result of the centripetal force which is equal and opposite to the centrifugal force that the ball exerts on the surface of the funnel which originated the centripetal acceleration.
Browse through a collection of cyclotrons driven by electrostatic forces:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCbYhDNjOviGPxYboeCqwggh3P2QjKkmm
#KineticSculpture #Cyclotron #electrostaticmotor #ElectrostaticExperiment #chargedparticles
4 silver balls, powered by 13,000 volts, spin in opposite directions in concentric tracks. But a funny thing happens when they all spin clockwise.
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator which accelerates charged particles in a spiral trajectory. This model, which only resembles a cyclotron, accelerates four aluminum balls in concentric tracks on a horizontal plane. Each track contains four aluminum strips where one opposing pair is charged with a positive potential of 13KVolts while the other pair is electrically grounded. The current demand is approximately 9 microamps.
We know from physics that for a constant amount of force, the smaller the spinning radius of a mass, the smaller its moment of inertia and the higher its angular velocity - as could be observed with ballerinas and figure skaters when they pull in their arms.
However, in the second half of the video when all balls spin clockwise, the ball with the smallest radius and the one with the next larger radius move in lock step and spin at the same angular velocity. The reason for this seemingly unexpected behavior is that the two balls are in very close proximity and the inductive force between them is so strong that it is the dominating factor rather than the difference in radii. Note that the inner most ball is lagging by about 3/8" (approximately 1 cm) behind the ball that spins in the next track because the two balls carry the same charge polarity and one repels the other - sort of pushes it ahead, no doubt at the cost of a lower angular velocity. The two outer balls do not exhibit the same behavior because their tracks are farther apart from each other.
The tracks are made of plastic food containers and lids which is my way of recycling them.
Note: Each ball moves in a circular motion and constantly accelerates towards the axis of rotation. The acceleration is the result of the centripetal force which is equal and opposite to the centrifugal force that the ball exerts on the surface of the funnel which originated the centripetal acceleration.
Browse through a collection of cyclotrons driven by electrostatic forces:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCbYhDNjOviGPxYboeCqwggh3P2QjKkmm
#KineticSculpture #Cyclotron #electrostaticmotor #ElectrostaticExperiment #chargedparticles
