fosborn_ wrote:I think you could quit your day job and write witty entertaining science articles. Who knew math could be so entertaining!
Thanks!
But I don't think I'll have time for that, because I've just thought of something much more interesting:
As we know now, quantitatively, there is this very very large change in the total charge inside an ordinary glass of water, as it evaporates, due to all those bazillions of little charged nano-droplets levitating out and floating away, carrying packets of charge with them.
So let's take a glass of water out of the faucet, a good full glass, maybe 750ml or so, making sure the water is neutral and grounded when it goes into the glass.
Then just leave it sit out, until 100ml of water evaporates. We could even warm it, so it happens faster, in an hour or so. Just don't boil it though, because that will create steam - we only want the nanodroplets.
Now, q=CV works the other way too: So when that water evaporates away, there will be this very large charge on the water remaining inside the glass. Which as we know is a very good insulator. And as we know now, the voltage inside the glass, will be up around 100,000 Volts, at least.
Anyway, the energy stored in a capacitor, is: E = 1/2 CV^2. So for our drinking glass, with the capacitance of 10nF, or 10^-9F, charged to a voltage of 10^5 volts, E = 1/2 (10^10) (10^-9), or 5 Joules of energy. Stored in our little glass-of-water Leyden jar.
Now, it so happens I know, that's about the same amount of energy they use to defibrillate your heart, if you show up in the emergency room with a serious arrhythmia - they give you a big shock, with usually around 3-10 Joules of energy.
So if you're ever out camping, far from a hospital, and your heart starts to misbehave and go all into some crazy bad rhythm, you could just evaporate some water from a glass, and then take a sip from it. You should hold the glass in your left hand, because your heart is a little more on your left side.
That way the current to discharge the glass, will flow from your left hand, down your left arm, through the area of your heart, up your neck, and down your lips to the charged water in the glass, and hopefully give your heart a good reset.
Make sure you need it though. A shock of 5 Joules REALLY REALLY HURTS. They give you anesthesia before they do it in the hospital.
--dc