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Is there a seasonal change in humidity?  If so, that could be playing a
role.  The charge is being induced on the outside of the dome by rubbing it
and that charge will leak away into humid ambient air, regardless of what
you do with the inside of the dome.

Dave Smith

On Tue, Sep 7, 2010 at 9:22 PM, Laura <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Good morning everyone,
>
> We are having trouble with our static dome and could really use some advice
> from anyone out there.
>
> It is as follows: We made a static dome with an acrylic top, around 1 1/2
> foot in diameter and filled it with polystyrene beads of about 5mm in
> diameter. We didn't seal the edges. At first it worked fine when rubbed with
> nylon, wool and the like, but after a few months it only worked if it was
> placed in direct sunlight. Then it stopped working even then, so we thought
> it might have something to do with the humidity. We took it apart, dried out
> the beads, added some dessicant pads and sealed the edges completely with
> silicon gel. Now it won't work at all.
>
> So my question is, does it seem likely that high humidity was the issue
> here? We live 6 degrees above the equator, it's hot, sticky, sweaty humid
> and our centre has no air conditioning.
>
> Any advice would be much appreciated,
>
> Laura Davies
> Environmental Education Coordinator
> The Green Connection Aquarium and Science Discovery Centre
> Sabah, Borneo
>
> ~~ ><> ~~ ><> ~~ ><> ~~
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
David L. Smith
Da Vinci Science Center
Allentown, PA
http://www.davinci-center.org

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

"You can’t buy change. It’s a process, not a purchase. The right shopping
list won’t change education.”
     -Sylvia Martinez http://blog.genyes.com/

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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

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