Michael’s Blog

Why crush a can yourself when you can get 22.7 Million Watts of electricity and a Magnetic field 260 thousand times the field of Earth to do it for you!

Over half a thousand US Dollars worth of equipment… The second largest semiconductor currently in production… 260 THOUSAND times the magnetic field strength of Earth… 22.7 MILLION Watts of electricity… Enough energy to kill a person 250 times over… Enough power during a single discharge to supply Adelaide… Several days worth of work… The ability to smash an aluminum can with no physical contact, and to do it so fast and heat it so much in the process that it sounds as though the can is exploding as the drink inside it boils off…
Why?
Simple…

BECAUSE I CAN.

(Sorry, couldn’t think of a better reason :)

See pictures and videos and vague instructions at PowerLabs

Power Supply

For the power supply, a bank of 20 inverter grade electrolytic capacitors, as seen above, 10 are Nippon-Chemi Com (the brown ones) and 10 Powerlytic (the blue ones). They are all arranged inside a clear Plexiglas box measuring 70×15x15 cm and weighting a total of 13.5kilos (some 24pounds). All capacitors are rated for 450V max and store a 1500uF charge. This amounts to 150Joules each, or, 3000Joules in total. The capacitors are interconnected using 2cm wide, 1mm thick copper buss bars (for low inductance) and, for this particular experiment, are connected as a 900V bank at 7500uF.
Above the capacitors is a Digital Multimeter reading the actual charge voltage (in this case 0volts). The multimeter is essential as it allows me to monitor the charging rate, the actual charge voltage, and any residual charge left in the capacitors after a discharge. It is also essential for safety. The box serves to insulate the capacitors from one another and prevent electrolyte from spilling out in the event of a capacitor failure. It is worth mentioning that such a capacitor bank is VERY LETHAL!

Do not operate with any metal near you or it you don’t want CRUSHED! PowerLabs is very power hungry…