A Leyden Jar normally has continuous inner and outer linings of metal foil. This Leyden Jar has the foil cut into little diamonds, with holes in the center.

When this jar is charging up electrically, it will behave rather like an ordinary Leyden Jar. There will be tiny little sparks or ionic glows between the points of adjoining diamonds, but since the charging process is usually slow, they won't show up that obviously.

When this jar is discharged, however, the electricity is moving in larger quantities and a very short instant of time. There will be quite a noticeable spark between diamonds, wherever the electricity goes. Which is, of course, the purpose of this type of jar - to show how the electricity travels in it.

When this Jar discharges, all the sparks are at the top and bottom corners of the diamonds. There are no sparks at the left and right corners. This shows that electricity only flows up-and-down, not around the jar. Since the outer foil rests on the ground for this experiment, and the inner foil is connected to the metal ball by a wire reaching down to the base, this is not surprising.

(You do not want to hold a sparking Leyden Jar while discharging it. You represent less electrical resistance than the air does, so the electricity would go through you instead of making sparks.)

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© The Bakken Updated: April 6, 2007