GravityMagnet Safety

The GravityMagnet Invention Factory is not responsible for any injury or property damage that may occur as a result of the experiments and research presented on this site. Do NOT attempt any experiments for which you are unprepared or do not understand the possible consequences. Experimentation is dangerous and everyone does get hurt. Therefore, it is extremely important to follow safety precautions at all times in order to avoid serious injury or even death. Please email us if you have any questions regarding safety.

Always be cautious. Only do research in a safe and stable environment.

Good luck!

High Voltage Experimentation

Only by being extremely wary will you survive high voltage experimentation. GravityMagnet Invention Factory does not intend to scare anyone away, but rather to inform you of the safety hazards of performing such experiments. The small shocks and mistakes are the rites of passage of every person who does experimentation. Our intention is simply to ensure that your little mistake will not be your last and that you will live to experiment another day. We have had our own near-death experiences, and they are frightening. Do everything with extreme caution, and you might just discover something of interest.

If you are new to high voltage experimentation, you do not yet have the intuition than an experienced scientist has.

Working with high voltage is like having a kitten. If the kitten survives past the first year, there is a very good chance that you will keep it for years to come. By making all the small mistakes in the book, you start to get a feeling for electricity and how it acts. You will learn which smells should make you panic and which sounds should make you stop moving immediately. You will learn to work with one hand only. You will learn to divide every action into many smaller steps instead of a single large action, even when it seems obvious and more simple to do the latter. If you can break a complex action down into two parts or more, always do it that way instead. This is all about complexity. By breaking down each procedure into multiple steps, you perform more and better observations. By making more observations, you will learn more from your experimentation.

Safety Precautions

Please pay close attention to the following safety precautions when performing ANY experiment as seen on the GravityMagnet site or elsewhere. For those who intend to attempt ANY type of electrical or high voltage experiment, please look through the additional links as well for further safety information.

  • Electricity will do strange and unexpected things.
  • If you get confused, STOP moving.
  • If you feel a tingle, something is WRONG.
  • Never assume anything until you have tested it yourself.
  • Know your equipment.
  • Never work alone.
  • Never take shortcuts.
  • Never assume anything is grounded.
  • Always wear eye protection.
  • Always wear shoes with rubber soles.
  • Never wear jewelry or other clothing which could accidentally tough circuitry, conduct current, or get caught in moving parts.
  • Perform as many tests as possible with the power OFF and equipment unplugged.
  • If you must work with the power ON, only work with one hand.
  • Know what ozone smells like.
  • Always watch for signs of overheating or arcing.
  • Always have a fire extinguisher rated for electrical fires available.
  • Always assume that the soldering iron is hot.
  • Always use pliers or a clamp for even the smallest soldering job.
  • Always turn the power OFF before connecting meters to a circuit.
  • Always have adequate ventilation when experimenting with Tesla Coil components.
  • Electricity travels at the speed of light and always searches for the easiest path to ground.
  • Household voltages can be lethal.
  • Large currents can be lethal, and even a car battery can kill you.
  • High voltage is defined as anything over 600 volts.
  • One wrap of electrical tape is supposed to hold of 600 volts.
  • The power lines outside your home are bare metal and do not have any insulation.
  • Sweat can change body resistance from 100,000 ohms to under 1,000 ohms.
  • Any metal part can heat up and burn simply through induction.
  • Large currents can create arcs that burn over 6,000 degrees, which will melt metal, overheat equipment, and cause explosions.
  • Always remember that HOT and NEUTRAL are different.
  • Never touch the case or legs of a running neon sign transformer (NST).
  • Never touch the  case of a running microwave oven transformer (MOT).
  • Always discharge capacitors twice, and remember that big capacitors CAN discharge themselves backwards.

One of the most common injuries associated with electrical work is electric shock. Some symptoms of electric shock include: obvious burns (or little external evidence), burns at contact points, spinal injuries, internal injuries, and even cardiac arrest. If you or anyone else is shocked while working with electrical equipment, get help immediately because some symptoms are not always obvious so soon after the shock itself. Always put safety first when experiments.

External Safety Resources

GravityMagnet Invention Factory is not responsible for the completeness of the following pages. However, they do provide valuable safety information, so we do recommend that you spend some time with them before beginning experimentation of any kind.