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Van de Graaff for Dandruff

 Charge It Away!
 
(0) 		  [vote for,
against]

Van de Graaf generators produce high-voltage *static* electricity (meaning it's not very dangerous unless you do something stupid), which makes yer hair stand on end if you touch an operating one. The same principle can be used to cause dandruff to flee.

Just get yer personal generator, plug it in (not in a bathroom), and charge that dandruff away!

—galukalock, Apr 17 2003

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       Please explain the physics/biology, not convinced.
—silverstormer, Apr 17 2003
   

       Nope, charging yourself up will make the dandruff *stick* to you, not fly off. (Try it and see: use talc if you don't actually have dandruff.)
—DrCurry, Apr 17 2003
   

       But only if the charge applied was the opposite of what the flakes had (50/50 chance there. Besides, you could always reverse the polarity). Even so (let's pretend for a moment), once the flakes started absorbing the charge, they'd accumulate the *same* charge, and fly off.
—galukalock, Apr 17 2003
   

       Trust the good doctor. I’ve charge myself and others Van de Graaffically many times and never noticed an effect on dandruff.
—AO, Apr 17 2003
   

       How do I know you're telling the truth? Do you even have dandruff? How do I know the 'doctor' is 'good', for that matter?
—galukalock, Apr 17 2003
   

       [How do I know the 'doctor' is 'good', for that matter?]   

       Croissant for that comment.
—bungston, Apr 17 2003
   

       I don’t even know that he’s a doctor, but I have faith in humanity so I assume that everyone is basically good unless I know otherwise.   

       I do have a little dandruff. I suspect the reason that it doesn’t fly off when charged is that it’s stuck on some how. If you put an aluminum pan full of Styrofoam peanuts on a Van De Graaff they fly off so it might work if you have Styrofoam dandruff.
—AO, Apr 17 2003
   

       Actually, he is a doctor. A PhD in chem, I think.
—bristolz, Apr 17 2003
   

       If there's anyone who doesn't have dandruff, you can have some of mine.
—snarfyguy, Apr 17 2003
   

       Reverse the charges.
—thumbwax, Apr 18 2003
   

       Wouldn't reversing the charges make it collect?
—lurch, Apr 18 2003
   

       [thumbwax] Yup. 'Swhat I said earlier.
—galukalock, Apr 18 2003
   

       Suck it off your 'ead with a Shop-Vac like everyone else!
—Cedar Park, Apr 18 2003
   


 

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