WARNING!: Working with electricity is dangerous, all information found on my site is for educational purpose and I accept no responsibility for others actions using the information found on this site.

Read this document about safety! http://www.pupman.com/safety.htm

Introduction

This experiment was first carried out by Lord Armstrong in 1893. Read the historical tales of this experiment.

De-ionized water acts in a special way when exposed to high voltage. This experiment uses two normal household drinking glasses filled with de-ionized water and a wire in each glass from a 20kV flyback transformer, I used one of my older drivers for the supply.

The experiment

7th may 2009

The drinking glasses are filled to the brink with de-ionized water and put close together, the water will climb up the sides of the glasses and form a bridge of water between the two. Very carefully the glasses can be pulled apart to gain a longer bridge, but eventually it will not be able to sustain due to gravity.

I was able to make a 12 mm long water bridge as seen in these images.

Additional reading about this experiment

Elmar Fuchs and colleagues from the Graz University of Technology in Austria

Peter Terren from tesladownunder.com

Conclusion

This is an easy and fun experiment to do if you already have a high voltage low current power supply at hand, reproducing experiments by scientists is a great way to acknowledge their discoveries and learn some new theory and history.

Demonstration