🚀 go-pugleaf

On Thu, 30 Mar 1995, Steve Luzader wrote:

> Also, one of my colleagues reported to me a couple of days ago that she
> saw the electric pickle demonstration on an early-morning science show
> on TV this past Saturday.

It was written up in the Puzzles page of Omni (near the back cover of the
magazine) a couple of years back. Of course, after the pickle has served
its scientific purpose, you can eat it, perhaps with a hot dog cooked with
the same apparatus: nails in each end, connected to a line cord plugged
into the wall.

The interesting thing about the electric pickle is that when it glows,
the glow is always near *one* of the electrodes, not in the middle
halfway between them. Remember, this is AC you are using, so why is the
glowing spot prefering one or the other electrode? Something about the
initial breakdown very quickly (within a half cycle) creating a stable
situation which persists? Doesn't seem plausible. Perhaps due to the
shape of the pickle, or its density differences, or the concentration of
electrolytes in it not being uniform? Furthur study (and grant support)
is needed. :-)

How could one predict *in advance* which electrode the glow will prefer?

There's a lot of loose talk about whether the pickle has to be dill, and
whether Kosher ones work better. I found Polish Gherkins work fine.

Can you imagine submitting a grant proposal for study of electric pickles?
Or submitting a paper to Phys. Rev. on that subject? Someone shoud *do* it!

        -- Donald