Making 500,000 VOLT ARC with Marx Generator 

Imma level with you. That's TERRIFYING.

0:56 It scared the shit out of me when he grabbed his heart. Please take care, we don’t want to loose you Mehdi.

1:04 the way he talks after getting shocked, he doesn’t sound angry or upset at all, just disappointed with his nearly lethal accident

0:56 that's the nastiest shock he's received alongside the Jacob's ladder

“it can kill you” “Let me show you how”

Mehdi: *stands up super high voltage death tower* Everyone: *flashback to the jacob's ladder incident*

There was a guy in my HS physics class that built a massive capacitor… like 3 feet (1 meter) long. It was similar to EB’s “tiny” capacitor in that it was aluminum foil rolled up with wax paper as the dielectric. He charged it up, and because in and of itself the charging doesn’t appear impressive, he decided to discharge it… himself. It threw him about 7 feet onto the floor. The class was impressed, he was… ‘ok’… and I believe he got an “A”. Come to think of it… that very well may have been ElectroBOOM…!

0:57 that's the fastest I've seen anyone move lmao

everyone: I am surprised he is still alive Death: Yeah me too

Imagine being ElectroBOOM's wife, constantly hearing this stuff from the across the house wondering if this was it, was this the shock that killed him.

Thanks I love your experiments especially the high voltage ones. You are so funny! But also very clever. Love your channel keep up the great work!!! Geoff

That big shock, reminds me when I was under my desk unplugging a UPS to move it from my old power bar that I didn't trust and wanted to replace (it was rated for 12 amps, I prefer everything matches or is higher than the 15 amps of a wall outlet due to a fire in the past). The plug was being stubborn and I was twisting my body in an uncomfortable way to access it. To brace myself for balance I grabbed my desk, a steel desk, not thinking as I pulled out the plug and as it came out my finger slipped and touched one of the prongs. I didn't feel the shock in my hand or arms. I felt it in my chest back of my neck as that was pressed against part of the desk as well and ended up getting kicked back by it. My roommate was a paramedic and I yelled for them to come check me, said I took current across the chest and to give me a check over to confirm that my racing heart was just panic, I was having short term vision issues as well and wasn't able to move correctly and apparently had slurred speech. They looked me over and then informed me that it wasn't my heart that had them worried, it was that my breathing and voice told them my diaphragm was still acting up and my behavior meant my brain got some electroshock therapy. Took me 15 minutes to get to normal again. When I went back to work they grabbed a dog chain and forced me to use it to ground myself on the same arm that I was pulling plugs with.

7:44 "I can raise the power supply to give it more voltage..." - Marx generator starts playing drum solo

10:47. Is anyone else having Jacob's ladder flashback xD

This guy surviving these videos is like a testament to multiverse theory combined with the infinite monkey theorem. There is no way he could survive without so many universes to have come first where he hadn't.

I used to use one of these in real life in the high voltage lab in Pirelli. We used it to lightning test underground high voltage cable samples up to 2.2 megavolts, it made quite the bang.

This is literally the most comfortable and fun way to learn something about electronics

It's a true Marx generator only if it seizes the means of arc production

わかりやすい解説ありがとうございます。 感電しないように気をつけながら自分も作ってみたいと思いました。

Love it, Happy Christmas. I would have loved to see a second gap sparking due to the Radio energy generated.

11:23 *Yes. It's called death.*

That "is for me"part killed me lmao

Man, I really love this channel, my second-hand terror actually helps cement the lessons. When you reached for the blue capacitor, I knew right away "Wait no! You didn't discharge it! D:"

It's amazing you've made physics fun. His reactions to the output sparks is priceless .

0:57 Okay, in comparison to other shocks on his channel, this is one of the most lethal here. He didn't even get to curse properly, which shows how lethal and painful that shock was. He could've easily suffered cardiac arrest.

Me a EE student: Cool, what can you do with it? Mehdi: Can't you see it's sexy?!?

We used to make these in electronics classes though we used the classic Cockroft Walton multiplier circuit where you use diodes and caps instead. The smell of ozone coming off them was pretty full on from what I remember!!

Thank you for putting your time and effort into this, never have I found myself maniacally laughing at an educational video till I delved into this channel

Normal person: "Never do __, you could die!" ElectroBOOM: *proceeds to do __* Also ElectroBOOM: "I almost died! Here's how:"

This guy is a prime example for " genius goes hand in hand with crazy".

You can tell Mehdi simply wings it with the script. He has no papers, no rehearsing, he just talks. That's a good thing, since it shows what all he knows and remembers of electricity, and it also makes the "Do not try this at home" part seem much more caring.

9:06 the moment in the film where the experiment goes wrong and a supervillain is made

Whenever the lights flicker in Vancouver I wonder what Mehdi is up to. Edit: He posts the videos on his Pateron before they go live here. I strongly suggest supporting him!

Marx Generator: **exists** Electrons: "We have nothing to lose but our chains!"

Very interesting experiment, congratulations and that you for shearing you big knowledge

In this or another video about this Marx generator you argue that the sparks in the gaps go simultaneously because the first one produces ionizing radiation. I think this can be easily tested by placing some 'walls' between the gaps so that the ionizing radiation cannot get to the second one and so on. I actually think the explanation is much easier: When the first gap jumps (which should be a little bit shorter distance than the others, the subsequent gap suddenly has almost twice the voltage it had before and is immediately bound to spark, the subsequent gaps increase even further step by step. This is why they all go `exactly` simultaneously.

Mans just restarted his heart n said “damn burnt my finger too”

6:27 good to see he's keeping up with trends

He shows you exactly what not to do and what can happen if done the wrong way! Than explains how to do it the right way! Amazing teacher and also comedian , super awesome videos

This dudes is fantastic in delivering complex information in a that make your brain feel like is desirable and you can’t stop learning! Thx

Mehdi: Makes a circuit with high voltage. His body: Is it for me👉👈

How I want my drum solo to be like - 7:46 When I actually do it - 8:27

I re-watch ElectroBOOM's videos periodically and I'm pleased to see I understand them more and more. I remember very well the first time I saw this one, I was amazed but I didn't understand shit. Now it all seems rather clear to me :) What would be the impact of having capacitors of lower or higher capacitance if any though?

Thanks sir.. it's cleared all my doubt.. lots of love from India.

When he said that he'll mount it on some plexi glass to make it vertical I immediately got flashbacks to "the Jacobs ladder incident"

"Cleary I haven't learnt my lesson" he says electrifying himself for the 1 millionth time.

Great vid! What did circuit did you use to charge the capacitors?

I fucking LOVE when you find a new (to you) channel and have a HUGE library to watch and binge!

everyone in a 100 metre radius: why is there such bad cell service around here meanwhile:

Mehdi: *builds another tower-type setup* Me: *The Incident flashbacks*

I worked in a company making power supplies, when we did high voltage power supplies, they needed to be tested before they were potted, so we used flourinert this stopped all arcing, enabled us to probe for testing etc, it was truly a magical fluid, in your case, i'd have had the spark gaps just above the surface of the fluid, it looks mad, sticking high voltage electronics into what looks like water.

this marx generator implies that you could put many many more of these in a longer chain and get some truly massive arcs. it would probably even sound like a thunderclap too as it went off, but i imagine it would take a much longer time to charge fully. it would also probably be the super-sized equivalent of a bug zapper if you got too close, though.

Electroboom: almost dies Right after: anyway, let’s try that again

"Don't try this at home." *placing my order for capacitors.* 0:56 *Cancelling my order*

My friend at work showed me this guy I love his content. Your fans love you electric boom

You need to be a teacher

Me seeing 00:57 "Well, he grabbed the heart, this is it he finally transcended the phisical plain."

You know a circuit is dangerous when even Electroboom takes proper precaution and doesn't hurt himself using it

AMAZING work Mehdi!! I could be your biggest fan! I'm in the process of learning Electrical Engineering. I Have a question, (hopefully not a dumb one!) Once the spark gaps fire and all the capacitors fall in series, and if capacitors block DC, (I'm trying to understand the flow,) how do the electrons pass the dielectric between plates of the caps? In order for them to add up, and even be in series!?.

Your videos are electrifyingly entertaining. Thank you.

He's so good at making electronics, that he can pretend to know nothing "safely"

I like the way he grabbed his heart on the first shock....

My father had a 15 kV transformer that we used to play with. I NEVER shocked myself. But we also wired it up properly, used appropriate knifeblade switches with long handles etc.

I have 20x 40Kv TDK fist sized ceramic door knob capacitors that I was going to build a CW multiplier but never ended up building anything except for one single stage to test the concept. My input has sparks close to the size of the output on this video. The output on the single test stage is frighting so a 10 stage will be awesome! Perhaps a Marx generator might be the way to go as my road block was getting 20x 100Kv high current diodes to deal with the peak loads during discharge. There were some options but would have costed me many $1000s at the risk of still blowing the diodes up. The highest mA microwave diodes worked well but I needed like 5 in a string, so 10 per stage, 100 all up and again, prices too high to justify. I suppose resistors are cheap as though and could be the compromise I need to make me tinker with the project finally after 10+ years of having the caps in the box they arrived in.

0:56 that was heart touching

0:57 feels unsettlingly different than the other times he gets shocked in his videos. There's no comedic element to this. It seems like he was legitimately panicked and in pain that bordered on being lethal (not saying all the other times they weren't.) Absolute legend for including this, showing how terrifying electrical shocks can be for the human body. Thank you for what you do Electroboom.

It would be nice to see all these arcs on a high speed camera ❤️

Try using chokes instead of resistors as the charging elements. I made mine by winding several layers of plastic-coated wire around ferrite aerial rods. I did when I built Marx Banks years ago. But a word of warning - the arrangement generates huge EMPs. I had to repair a workshop full of damaged equipment after conducting some tests once.

Him: literally defibrillates his heart... aww man I burnt my finger

Mehdi: hehe this is interesting Capacitor: click click Mehdi: The charges are flying over air! Capacitor: *SKREEEEEEEEEE*

Nice way to conculcate and educate

This man is amazing, I wish I had such a teacher in my university

Mehdi: "Corona Discharge" Corona: Wait what

Girls:- We live longer than boys This guy:- yeah let me demonstrate .

I've tried to make my own using 1M resistors, 100pF capacitors, and reverse-biased 2.6-volt Zener diodes instead of spark gaps. I used Zener diodes because normal diodes would not even come close to the breakdown voltage when the circuit is running off a nine-volt block battery. Plus, the Zener diodes would have a more controlled breakdown, and I wouldn't be exposed to any high voltage sparks or arcing.

0:57 I believe what's happened was that when you had both hands on the circuit intended to charge the capacitor, your body wound up being the path of least resistance, which caused you to jump from your seat like that.

7:46 When voltage becomes a military force and start beating the drums

corona can be avoided by increasing distance... Electrical engineers: we know

I am new to this channel and i love this mad genius

That electric shock have shaken my soul to it's very core. Please Medhi, be careful. This world cant lose such a beatiful person as you.

7:46 dude literally just made a beat with capacitors

0:57 that one was lethal. I felt that literally. I was an electrician and I've been shocked quite a few times before.

I keep coming back every now and then to check if the man's still alive.

Awesome magnificent, above all don't change! keep going like that! Big thank you. 🎇

0:56, Never have I seen a man move so fast

Ahh, the flute sound is back at 6:54! So cool, i longed for that.

Your program is very superb. Good luck

great info! very well done video! thank you my friend!

"Honey! The neighbor is trying to open another dimension again!" ~ Karen 2020

6:27 That's it, that is all you need.

I made a super high voltage capacitor for my Tesla coil out of eight and a half by 11 picture frame glass and aluminum foil I stacked it all up and glued it together still working now.

Is there a way to use this marx generator as a way of propulsion? Great content again.

-"why build a high voltage generator?" -"what s wrong with you? cant you see she s sexy!?" big lolz 🤣

0:57 Mehdi's Nervous system : THAT SCARED THE SH*T OUT OF ME

Grabbing the HV and ground reminds me of the time I was building a 600W ham radio tube amp. I thought i had unplugged it to work on it, but I had unplugged something else. I grabbed the live plate cap of the final, which was 1000v at .9 amps, while touching the metal frame. It stood me up out of my chair and knocked me loose. I wound up on the floor happy to be alive.

Great work! Keep it up!

“Is for me?” The funniest part of the video video.

0:56 that's actually terrifying

You should try submergeing the entire circuit in epoxy (not the sparkgaps ofc).

Scary instructive entertainment. Thank you very much sir!!