Hands-on from the start: first semester students build electrostatic generators

Student Jonas Nann, who presented his project together with five colleagues, explains: "Our group decided to build a 'Van-de-Graaff generator', also called a band generator. It generates high DC voltage by exploiting the triboelectric effect, meaning frictional electricity".

To build the generator, the group used the "ETH makerspace" on the Hönggerberg as recommended. In addition to limited time, materials and budget, the main challenge at first was that the team members did not agree on how such a "Van de Graaff" really works. The procedure consisted of a lot of trial and error: "Because of the way our structure works, even the smallest changes sometimes had huge consequences, which required a lot of experimentation. Finally, towards the end of the available time, we had to be satisfied with the setup that worked best, i.e. the one producing the highest voltage and thus the longest 'flashes'. However, numerous further optimizations would still be possible."

Jonas draws a positive conclusion: "It was great to implement something practical with my new fellow students and to be able to present a successful project at the end".

Professor Christian Franck is also pleased that this practical project work right at the beginning of the first semester met with so much enthusiasm from his students . At the same time, he is aware of the challenges: "As simple as the task may sound, the devil is in the detail and the students come across many challenges during the process where the solution is not obvious at first. Over time they understand that they are provided with the necessary theoretical foundation in the lecture - so it's really putting theory directly into practice and vice versa," he says.