I never really knew about the Hailstorm Box myself until after making the generator, and really started searching the net for other experiments that could be done with the Van de Graaff. It is definitely an obscure project, and I only found a few references to it myself. The Hailstorm Box really seemed like an exciting project to show to the kiddo, and that prompted me to build one. The particles in the box are foam balls coated with india ink ( which is conductive ).

Thanks for the suggestion on ‘corona dope’, at the time I was looking at possibly buying some HV wire, but never got to it. The kiddo lost interest and I haven’t had a chance to get back to it. If I ever do I’ll definitely look this up though and give it a try, especially if it is a more cost effective solution than HV wire.

Cheers,
Morgan

Also, about the (unwanted) corona discharges, they make a coating called “corona dope” – it’s a type of varnish that you apply to sharp metal edges, around connectors and other points susceptible to discharges and it creates a dielectric barrier that prevents coronas. It’s also very often used to coat the crack between the two halves of the VDG top spherical terminal to prevent losses there. I have a bottle of MG Chemicals’ Super Corona Dope and it works a treat and isn’t expensive.

How much would it cost to ask you to rig a twilight turtle for us?

Thank you