The Museum of Science in Boston, MA, USA has a rather larger Van Der=20
Graaf - capable of 2MV
http://www.mos.org/live-presentations/lightning
There's video on that page too.

Eoin

On 2013-05-24 00:35, William "Chops" Westfield wrote:
> On May 18, 2013, at 5:08 PM, IVP wrote:
>
>> how easy is it to make 2MV ? I don't have any recent experience
>> with Leyden Jars, Wimshurst Machines or Van Der Graaf Generators
> Hard.  Wikipedia says for van de Graaff generators::
> "The maximum achievable potential is approximately equal to the sphere's =
radius multiplied by the e-field where corona discharges begin to form with=
in the surrounding gas. For example, a polished spherical electrode 30 cm i=
n diameter immersed in air at STP (which has a breakdown voltage of about 3=
0 kV/cm) could be expected to develop a maximum voltage of about 450 kV."
>
> So I'd guess 2MV is about 4 feet across, which is:
> 1) Brookhaven National Lab sized, not garage-sized.
> 2) quite a non-trivial and expensive exercise.
> 3) quite capable of being fatal.
>
> Personal electrostatic machines tend to stop at around 200kV or so, I thi=
nk.  I don't know if you can do anything with that=85
>
> BillW
>
>

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