$40 Plasma Ball = $200 Worth Of Fun!
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- čas přidán 6. 08. 2021
- SCIENCE!
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The thing my mom bought for me at Spencer's gifts when I was 10 that inspired a lifelong passion for not only science but just finding out how things work. 👍👍👍👍👍
@@jkobain yep!!
Ya, Spencer's was the coolest store in any mall years ago. That place was full of curiosity things.
over 20 years ago I had a good friend who ran a magic shop, he had ordered one custom made from USA that was 24" in diameter as a display piece for his store.. but he passed away soon after it arrived and never got to unpacking it.. his wife thought I should have it.. and I still do. It was made by a company that made custom props for magicians.
Do you have any videos if it? Sounds very cool.
Aw cool 😊
You should post some videos of it!
Video please!!!
show us!! 🤞🏻🙂
Can we talk about that absolutely savage Parliament t-shirt?
came here for this specifically, lol
My thoughts exactly! But is it the cigarettes or the band?
@@RichardRitenour0522 Better ask Dr. Funkenstein!
I wish the "reverse screw method" was taught to everyone, everywhere. I happened to develop it by accident during my young teens and I've not stripped any of the thousands of screws I've worked since. Kudos to you for promoting it.
My dad taught me this. Saved me no end of hassles.
I think I learned the turn screw backwards first in plastic technique as a kid unintentionally and never thought much about it or passing it on until Fran started talking about it.
Thanks for those comments, tiger12506 and Mr Byamile. I, too, independently discovered the technique as a pre-teen (?), and I'd been surprised recently to hear both Fran and Adam Savage repeatedly give out the tip (no pun intended). I'd figured everyone eventually realized to do it that way (e.g. due to the influence of plastic caps on cartons and bottles, many of which these days are a cost-cut version that can't just be brute-forced, and are highly unlikely to close fully and properly unless you use the reverse-screw technique to find the right threading).
I'd kinda been wanting to comment about this, but didn't want to make it just seem like an r/iamsosmart brag, so again, thanks for the backup. 😁
"bahbabababaditdababababa... Ok, well, I guess were gonna break all those rules..." Crackin me up!
You looked like a little girl at Christmas :) (Props on the Parliament shirt) Always fun and interesting things going on at Franlab!
I remember seeing one of these when I was like 7 in a RadioShack and being completely obsessed with it. I couldn't stop talking about it to my parent's (I was obsessed with all things science as a kid...still am!). Even though my parents didn't have a lot of money, they somehow managed to get me one for Christmas. Provided many, many years of joy. I still have it, but the gas seems to have mostly diffused out of it.
Fantastic! These plasma balls are not completely harmless. Many years ago, both tweeters on my hi-fi system burned out because I played something close to them with my plasma ball. The high frequency high voltage from the plasma ball managed to get into the old amplifier and speakers. (Obviously the amplifier didn't have a good high frequency cutoff filter.) I didn't hear anything, the tweeters just overheated.
My entire interest in electronics was sparked (pun intended) by visiting "gadget stores" all through the 90s. Lots of amazing LED doohickeys and of course, the most common feature were the plasma lamps. 31 years on this planet and I somehow still don't own one so I'm jealous; I'll have to fix that soon! Getting to watch someone else experience the wonder of unboxing and looking at one of these reignited my love for them! Thanks Fran! Genuinely awesome, as always!
my mom got e one when i was in midschool. im sure it was over a undred back then.. its a little dimmer now, but still works. probably 30 years or so nearly constantly on.
I have a smaller version of this one. I'm looking at it now. It's been continuously running for over 30 years. YAY, Science!
If someone ever comes up with a miniature version to use as a nightlight or perhaps even a motion sensor light for when I wake up to pee in the middle of the night, I will definitely buy a couple of them!.
Plasma balls, turning adults into big kids since 1894.
Actually, I think since 1973 :)
Staple at Radio Shack in late 80s/early 90s. Fun stuff.
Best reaction video to date! Love the way you enjoy it! And just as i was wondering how i could generate some nice high freqency for a project i have in mind.. but i could never dismantle one of those now that i know the joy they bring!
I just found this exact model at a second hand store last week (sans power cord), and I've been tempted to take it apart. Thanks for the walkthrough!
Thanks for sharing this with the audience,Every time I visit the science museums locally I'm always fascinated with the plasma balls and more plasma items,I'm a big kid when it comes to things like this.
I am going to plug in my Illumastorm Jr. today for the first time in honor of this video. I've had it since the 1990's when it went on clearance but have never found a place for it.
I still have my OG Illumastorm from the 80's! :)
Hi Fran I have an almost identical one which has been running for about 17 years now. Was stored in a damp garage for 5-6 years and still works just fine. Tried running on a 15v linear DC to give it a bit of a boost!
I just got the urge to listen to an audio book read by Fran 🎶 📖
@Mik Mmmhhmm: No doubt! Her musical delivery when she's happy / tickled / intrigued about something would be great for kids' science books, and more...
I just had a crazy idea, /question , has anyone recorded one of these with a slo-motion camera? Especially on start-up!
I had one in my living room operating continuously for about 15 years and as far as I know it still works fine, I have it in storage. They are great decor/mood items. Cats enjoy them too. And yes, you don't even need ground, just a metal object sitting on top of the globe is enough to generate a spark and a shock when you touch it
Wait, these things produce ozone.
If you wrap in aluminum foil then put your hand on it .
Totally different result : )
I did exactly that some years ago, after making a light shield from tinfoil, got a RF burn from the arc to my finger...
@@chrispomphrett4283, Yikes!
@@chrispomphrett4283 Yes, it smells unmistakably like burned hair, because of the sulfur. Skin and hair are made of the same material.
That was fun!
As a teenie I mostly couldn‘t hold back not opening all kind of devices to look onside. Just my fathers things I didn‘t dare- I was scared getting beat the cr*p out, if damaged.😅
Funny me: watched with hawk‘s eye the wire from 9:57 to 10:07 , whispering: „don‘t touch it, just don‘t touch it! Ground it out first!!“😳😅
No electrical knowledge here by any means, but got „bitten“ too often by power supplies and high performance capacitors….😂😅
I have one the same size as this and it had 3 position switch which made it react to sound, and it also had a half glove plastic back on it to show off the display inside similar to what you did at the beginning. I also have a small one and it has a Neon ring around the base of the tube, havent used it in years it was green from memory.
Very cool! My friend had one when we were kids, but his was much smaller, so this one is very impressive, especially for $40!
I love Plasma Balls! Cool video Fran!
That was fun. I got the feeling you were enjoying it so much that you didn't really want to risk breaking it by taking it apart.
There was a corresponding moment of relief when it sprang back to life!
You must have a neon tester in your kit, or maybe even some loose neon bulbs.
See how far from the globe you can get them to light!
I worry about my CMOS components when I have mine on! :-)
I had one of the little USB desk ones for a while. The thing that started to fail on that was the connection between the high voltage supply wire and the center of the globe. I think there must have been some arcing or or maybe mechanical forces from moving it or the vibration that wore the conductive coating off the glass. It was just the bare end of the wire touching the glass same as this one.
Big props for that Mothership Connection tshirt, Fran!
12:50 “All together now!” Thank you, The Beatles have never been forgotten! I know this song from the Yellow Submarin movie, I love it. And I've had a similar plasma ball for 30 years, also that big, and it's still working. Of course I opened it too! The high-voltage transformer is different, round and with a ferrite core like it used to be in tube televisions. And I think without SMDs. Fran is inspiring, now I'm even more excited about my plasma flashes.
Very cool, thank you.
friends and I had a cool one..it had an intensity knob. you could crank it down until only the spots you touched produced the tendrils. it was pretty much always on and it lasted for years
A plasma ball was the first gift my wife bought me and it still works!
Back in 1988 at Spencers Gift in the mall. My wife saw me mesmerized by one of those plasma balls.
(Than again anything shiny fascinated me as a young adult - LOL) I've grown since then. I'll always cherish it.
Thanks for tearing one down so I didn't have to!
Fran, if you haven't visited the Theater of Electricity at the Boston Museum of Science you should definitely plan a trip. Besides having a giant plasma globe, they also have Tesla coils and the world's largest Van de Graaff generator, which are all demonstrated in live displays daily.
Years ago, Spencer's sold mini versions of that, which I put on each side of a Halloween prop chair that I built for an execution electric chair, that with stome relays and timers synchronized to a custom audio that cut off the room lights and started the bulbs up. Then all the lights off and the victim/ actor could disappear with a doppler scream effect & start up a fog machine. Great fun!
Reverse screw method is awesome fran, thanks for telling me it as it has saved me a bunch. :)
I love these, I used to have a big one till my niece broke it. I have a small USB powered one I play with sometimes. Lighting flouro tubes with it is fun. You might find some LEDs will light up from it too. Seems the phosphor is somehow excited by the high voltage. I believe the colours are due to neon and argon gases.
NICE!! Love the Mothership Connection shirt!
we used to have a cylindrical one, about half a meter high, it even had an "interactive" mode where it would turn on based on sound.
it looked really good, i always wondered how precise the tolerances need to be to prevent the 'wigglies' from bunching up on one place.
At the top inside of the glass tube/ mini Ball that the fly back wire goes up into.
There is metal foil like scowering pad material in it that the wire touches the bunched up foil brillow like ball.
Lots of them have clear glass in the center and you can see the brillo pad.
Radio Shack had one that also could be set to react to sound. I still have this one and it is over 30 years old.
You are such a dork, and I love watching you enjoy your work. Thank you, and keep it up!
that close up of of the plasma ball made my brain go, "x-files, remember x-files, it was in the opening, you should rewatch that",
me going "no, we just rewatch Twin Peaks and that is only 48 episodes, x-files was 218"
I have the same plasma bol. Trying to make a bigger Tesla coil but i do not know of a bigger transformer works???
Poor college student back in the late 80s, saved up my minimum wage monies for one of those called "Eye of the Storm." Loved it's effects, made for great dorm fun, with some good tunes...just had to make sure not to break the glass.
I think I had one of the same brand.... still out in the garage I think.
Nice I had one of those about 20 years ago. It did crap out on me after a year or two though. Did you take a fluorescent tube in your one hand and touched the ball with the other yet?
What is the recommended maximum duration for keeping a plasma ball turned on? Can it safely stay on for extended periods, or should it be turned off after a certain amount of time to prevent overheating or other issues?
Thank hoy very much
I have one shaped like a bong (bigger ball at the bottom and a pipe that goes up a couple feet). Came from sharper image couple decades ago, still works.
Do not taunt happy fun ball !
😂
Y'all remember when radio shack had those illumi storm lighting plasma toys? Those were so cool
I have one still, works flawlessly, also have the more powerful “lightning fury”
It wouldn't be a real Fran-video without the use of a screwdriver ;-). I am very excited when people live out their play instinct!
And the tired old going against the threads bla bla....
I liked it when they used this as a prop in the movie My Science Project.
I had one from I think The Sharper Image when I was a kid. It was sold at one of our numerous family garage sales over the years after I got bored with it and wasn't using it any more. I wish I still had it!
I have one from Radio Shack I bought about 40 yrs ago and it still works but there is one thing you HAVE to do when not using it, unplug it from the wall socket, for some reason the switch does not isolate the circuit board from mains voltage, so as long as it is plugged in to the source it has a voltage on the board which will kill it after a few months if left plugged into the wall socket. I also have the dome shaped one and the flat plate one with the glass beads in it, When the mood strikes, I plug them all in and enjoy the fun for a couple of hours..
As an enormous fan of anything 80's... I am a huge fan of plasma balls... and Fran! Perfect Saturday evening stuff. Please keep doing what you do.
The heat you felt was a rf burn 😃👍and you were correct the frequency changes were from loading the OP lowering the frequency
Steve
It's so wonderful that it was much better than you expected! And now..........I have to get one.
I just bought the same one and love it
♥️♥️♥️ thanks, @franblanche!
The very 1st plasma balls I ever saw was back in the early '80s at an art exhibit.
It was quite large, about 18-24" in diameter. And cost around $2700.
It's amazing how cheap (low cost) and small these plasma balls are today.
I have a 30+ year old Realistic (Radio Shack) hippie-ball still working fine. Never taken it apart but there are some differences to Fran's. Unit is pretty heavy for it's size, no power adapter, straight AC input (117V 30W says the sticker) power cord is a heavier gauge than my refrigerator. Throws out a bunch of IR for sure. Any IR controlled device in the same room will wig-out when it is on. Fun for the whole family!
Beautiful!
Always gotta do the reverse screw method! I teach it to everybody I can, thanks to Fran :)
Great Shirt.
Awesome Group.
P Funk
👍👍 😁
As an animator I heartly approve of this lovely opening titles :D Cheers Fran!
I have the same model. Yay!
"Well, I guess we're gonna break all of those rules!" 🤣 And we expected nothing less of our Fran! I'm sitting here now wondering what the heck my parents ever did with the one we had in the 80s when I was still in school. I think it did come from Spencer Gifts like someone below said.
I loved your enjoyment of this, it realy made me smile.
I have one sitting next to my TV that's been running for the past six months. Unfortunately it has slowly been changing. The plasma discharge inside is becoming much less energetic and more diffuse. It is slower and not as "wiggly" I don't know if it's a gas inside changing somehow or something slowly going wrong with the electronics. But it was $5 bucks at the thrift store.
I rember one of these in a movie in the 80's , it was part of a spaceship/timeship, it had to be before 88, when I saw it anyway, on HBO, when HBO was one channel, 17 I think!
So cool. Lovely video.
That's something I've meant to get for years. I could lose weeks playing with that thing!
Love me some Parliament!
Cool shirt. Mothership Connection. I still have and listen to my original piece of vinyl. Ahh, memories.
really cool, i love it
One could construct a nice Jug Head hat out of that dome protector !
They are so cool. They also block the use of infra red remotes in the same room.
Back in the '70s I met a guy near Madison WI, and he built very large Tesla coils. Those things were awesome!!!!
At 8:25: "do not open under any circumstances" ---- but the unit was factory-assembled with ordinary Philip screws and not some kind of special security screw which the average person wouldn't find a screwdriver for in their toolbox or kitchen junk drawer.
It originally cost $199.00. My gf gave me one for an anniversary present just because I touched it when we were in Spencer's one day. That made her think that I wanted one. I didn't...I made her return it and get her $$$ back !!! At $40 it might be worth the little bit of entertainment that it provides. Mine had two slide adjustable settings
i have one that is over thirty years old and it works great...
Fran, mine is called Eye of the Storm and is at least 40yrs old if my memory serves me correctly. It was made in Hong Kong for what that is worth and it is still going strong.
Fran you need to add an affiliate link for one in the description lol
Omg I loved this! I have one and I've always been curious about what was inside it, ty for showing us! Btw does anyone know why they leave a metallic smell on your skin after touching it?
I think the high voltage creates ozone from the oxygen in the air.
They definitely create a small amount of ozone when running, not just when you're touching it. Notice how the manual says: allow adequate ventilation. Or maybe that's to prevent it from overheating? Could be both I guess.
@@M4RC90 It would be important to know: Do plasma balls only generate ozone when they are touched, because then the field strength is high, or do they always? Ozone is cancerogenic, I don't want to breathe it all the time. That's why I've just started a homemade experiment: I put a plastic bag over my plasma ball and a rubber band inside, and let it run for a while. Rubber bands are made of natural rubber and are therefore very sensitive to ozone, they become brittle very quickly when traces of ozone act on them. The experiment also looks very nice.
Hi Fran. I've had three 'affordable' plasma balls (made in China) in the last few years and they've all gradually failed over less than a year of use due it seems to loss or breakdown of gas. The tendrils slowly disappear and are replaced by a general diffuse glow. I hope that yours lasts longer.
Edit: All of mine were identical inside to yours. Odd that the operating instructions state first of all to place on a horizontal surface yet there are slotted wall-hanger holes on the bottom. What's up with that?
@@doc_sav , yup, me too....
I would think that is so the globe is not in contact with anything. When hanging, the globe will not be touching anything. Also, having it on any slanted surface could cause it to fall over and break. I think hanging it upside down from the center of your ceiling is the way to go. ;-)
@@jlucasound , every teenager who is familiar with how these plasma globes work will be sorely tempted to jump up and high-five the darn thing. This would be disastrous.
I was just thinking about getting one of these....
What's concerning about them is some models emit A LOT of UV.
I guess that would have a lot to do with the gas in the globe.
@@FranLab Do the globes emit ozone all the time or only when you touch them? The ozone might tend to deteriorate anything plastic or rubber in the same room. What happens to the adjacent audio equipment if somebody owns a pair of expensive speakers with plasma tweeters?? Do their $1000 per foot interconnects and speaker cables, and their woofer cones, start to disintegrate?
I have to wonder if it's possible to convert a plasma TV Into a giant touch-sensitive plasma display. It occurred to me that a plasma microphone is theoretically possible but when I tried to look it up the only mention I could find was that Princeton researchers developed one recently with a frequency response of 100 kHz to 1 MHz, designed to detect structural changes and cracking in concrete, such as bridges.
I imagine they would have to have a quartz globe for UV to pass through?
I can't see getting that alone for anything close to $40.
Why does the color of the electron stream change when you touch the glass? Ionizing a different gas from the increased current flow? Also, do you get a different visual effect ---- or even a mild shock ---- if you ground your body before touching the globe?
Watch until the end, answers one of your questions.
@@M4RC90 , aha! It's at 15:42, after the credits end. I usually dont watch all the way through/ past the credits! Sounds like she got a hefty shock. Glad she's alright. I'm surprised she didn't pull out a voltmeter and try to measure the current to ground. At least it didn't fry her camera.
Fun! I bought one for my 6 year old 4 weeks ago!
"DO NOT OPEN! VERY DANGEROUS!" But here, we put standard phillips head screws in here for you. 😂
For some reason my first inclination after watching this was to search for "cat and plasma ball" on CZcams. Worth it!
Great tip on how to screw in plastic studs, I always let it find its natural position myself, the one requiring the least amount of torque. The only problem is when plastic gets really old, it so often ends up cracking when unscrewing... Has anyone tried unscrewing when new and screw back with silicone grease to prevent this from happening?
Regarding durability... It's more likely to die from breakage than anything else... I'll probably install a lead weight and perhaps suction cups in the base of my next one...
Everyone should have one of these.
Mine worked about 4 months and suddenly it got weaker and weaker. Don't know what dies in it, is it a transistor or capacitor or literally something in IC
Wow! They really cheaped out on that board, not even bothering to solder any unnecessary joints. 😂
Unfortunately those balls doesn't last a life time... I hade one go dimmer and dimmer after a year or so of heavy use. But at least the electronics didn't quit and I still keep it for various high voltage experiments. 😊
Great shirt!
What about the microphone? Is it possible to turn it on and off by clapping?
I have a $15 5" plasma ball that I've had for over 9 years...still works fine!
Now I want to buy a plasma ball !!
Thanks! Was a very interesting video :)
I also really wanted one of these as a kid.