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Arcs in designer colors


Hello all!

After seeing the neat xenon, etc. discharge tubes that were
demonstrated at the Tesla-thon, I have been experimenting with
high voltage discharges through various gasses to see what colors
and effects I could generate, given the gasses that I can synthesize
or obtain with household ingredients.  (Oooohh neet-o!  High voltage
arcs in designer colors!)

Gasses that I have tried so far include:
nitrogen, oxygen, acetone vapor, ammonia, wintergreen oil (methyl
salycylate), chlorine, propane, the vapors from rubber cement,
the vapors from PVC pipe cement, hydrochloric acid vapors,
hydrogen, paint thinner vapors, carbon dioxide, acetic acid vapors,
isopropanol alcohol vapors, and denatured (ethyl) alcohol vapors.
These have given me various purples, blues, and dim whites (with
a pretty green from the acetone vapors).

Unfortunately, I have run out of things that I can try (that I
can generate easily from "household" or easily-available 
products).  I would love to experiment with neon, argon, krypton,
and xenon, but I can't figure out any easy ways of obtaining
these gasses.  Does anybody know of any cheap ways of obtaining/
synthesising these gasses?  (What's in incandescent and flourescent
lights?  Perhaps I could suck the gas out of them...)

I do know that the local welding shop can order "research gasses",
but I don't need a whole cylendar full - I just need a balloon
full.  Besides, those cylendars are *expensive*!

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated (and I will post
any interesting results to the newsgroup).

Thanks!

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                     Kevin D Christiansen
      User Interface Group - The University of Virginia
              "The best VR that pizza can buy" 
   kevin-at-virginia.edu    http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~kdc4n/

"The universe is composed of space, galaxies, and intergalactic
 dust.  Galaxies themselves are composed of space, stars, and
interstellar dust.  From the omnipresence of dust, we conclude
that nature abhors a vacuum and won't pick up a broom, either."
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