Has anyone ever made a leyden jar capacitor?

Question

i wanted to make one for my science project but i wanted to know how you make it or of any sights you know of. But most importantly when you make it without the wimshurt machine is there still a painful shock or is it just a tiny shock. Please help. Thnx

Answer 1

A Leyden jar is simply a jar with 2 metal plates, such as aluminum, suspended in it so that they are fairly close together, but not touching each other. Each plate would have it's own connector, and the lid would also have to be insulated, electrically, from each plate. If you had the means to draw even a small vacuum in the jar, all the better. The plates are forced apart by electrostatic repulsion. This technique is actually used for some nuclear radiation detectors.
No, if you use a lower voltage source, it shouldn't cause your nerves to wish you had not touched one of the connectors. The Leyden jar is not going to produce more current, or voltage, than what was fed to it.