Wimshurst Machine - Improved

What enables this machine to start is that although objects are electrically neutral, their charge distributions can fluctuate, so that while there is no net charge on an object, at any given time, in a particular spot, it may have a slight excess of charge of one sign or the other (which is compensated by a similar excess of charge of the opposite sign elsewhere). Thus, when we start the plates of the Wimshurst machine rotating, a particular sector may have a slight positive or negative charge on it. For example, let us say that it is a positive charge, and it is the sector on the front plate at the top right. Let’s call it sector A, and say that it is just opposite the sector on the rear plate that touches the neutralizer bar on the back of the machine, which we’ll call sector B. This positive charge on sector A induces a negative charge on the back surface of sector B, by repelling the positive charges to the front surface, where they are carried away by the neutralizer bar. (Electrons flow from the opposite end of the neutralizer bar.) This leaves sector B with a net negative charge, and the sector on the rear plate 180 degrees from it with a net positive charge. The resulting polarization of the neutralizer bar charges the sectors immediately following B negative, and those immediately following the one 180 degrees from it, positive. 45 degrees later in the rotation, sector A passes the pickup at right, and transfers its charge to the Leyden jar.