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Why did the fluorescent lamp light when held near the van degraaf generator?
When the van degraff generator i turned on, why did the fluorescent lamp light when held near it? please explain.
The Van Degraaf generator generates a static charge, and spontaneously so, also creates short term bursts of high frequencies.
In fact, a tesla coil can also generate high frequencies in the discharge at the top capacitor or in the spark gap.
It’s these frequencies that exist for small time during the VDG generator operation which can excite the flourescent bulb’s internal filament/gaseous reactant. Plasma being the end product after the bulb is lit up. It would take a form of external frequency ‘zap’ to get the gaseous reactant to start ‘chaining’ in reaction.
Static electricity is a point charge (+ve and -ve) and will accumulate at the anode and cathode of the bulb, with frequency that has been translated from the VDG, in short bursts…which pile up to create a plasma (external) full of ‘tunes’ of frequency which then excites the bulb.
You have to create a path for current to flow, and only an oscillation of frequencies within the static charge can do this.
