Recently we stumbled upon this cheap high voltage converter on Amazon which claims a boost from 3-6V to 400kV.
Although really skeptical about the 400kV claim, a lot of comments indicated that it did boost at the very least to 10kV so we got one of these to test it out.
Schematic diagram for lighting up a CFL using the high voltage converter
Using a 1.5V battery to power the circuit
Using a 3V battery to power the circuit
And boom! There we go, that’s how you light up a CFL light bulb using a 3V battery!
If you do have access to a plasma globe or a tesla coil, things become a little bit more simpler:
Wireless (but not free) means to power a CFL light bulb
The way CFL light bulbs works is by exciting the electrons in the lamp and when they return to the ground state they radiate ultraviolet light. This emitted light is converted to visible light when it strikes the fluorescent coating on the glass.
So it really does not matter how you decide to excite the electrons to the higher energy state. It might be a high voltage converter, a tesla coil, a plasma globe, etc but all you need is a device that will kick those electrons inside the bulb from their ground state to the higher excite state. That’s all you need!
I had some other work to do this morning (Figuring out some algae stuff involving 1000 L mesocosm up a mountain) so mystery species has been sitting alone in the lab all morning…..
Made it up to the lab today to find this. It’s probably from the fridge defrosting and not the creepy “algae”.
June 13th Update.
According to a few colleagues it’s either a plant, an algae, or a fungi. So that’s been helpful.
After a day with some sunlight I think I might be seeing some chloroplasts.
It seems to like the nutrient solution I added yesterday though!
I for one welcome our new plant, algae, or fungi overlords.
I was about to say “in a sensible lab people wouldn’t waste time with this, they’d autoclave the bottles and move on” but on reflection I can’t think of a single bio lab I’ve been in that wouldn’t immediately go “ooh, mystery algae, that sounds like a fun challenge; let’s devote multiple hours to identifying it for no reason”.
I need updates tell me about the algae
The mystery algae/plant/fungi/alien is stuck in the university growth chamber. With everything going on I probably won’t get to check in on it until September, possibly not until 2021.
So by that time it will have developed what, writing?
God I hope so, then I can train it to write my thesis!
This entire post is the most on-brand biologist thing I have seen in my entire godforsaken life. The moment this pandemic is over these guys have another crisis ready for us.
Can we get an update cause this is crazy
Update: Due to the global pandemic, the algae has been left alone in a weird hidden growth chamber for a year and will likely stay there for another year. Enjoy that information!
