After three attempts, Greggory and I finally got a Leyden jar to work. I figured we better take advantage of the cold-dry weather (which ended tonight when a heavy snow storm started.)
FYI, a Leyden jar is just a capacitor constructed using a jar or bowl. The outside of the jar is one plate of the capacitor and the inside of the jar is the other plate. The reason for the jar is it's a convenient solid object with very thin walls and a lot of surface area. It also makes it easy to grab one of the plates (the outside of the jar).
Our first attempt used a tupper ware container and probably failed due to too many ragged edges thanks to the fact the jar was tapered which doesn't fit rectangular pieces of foil too well.
The 2nd attempt was based on using two bowls and salt water for the electrodes. Problem with that design is it requires more salt than we had available--could only get the resistance down to about 1kohm. The bowls were also sort of thick which would greatly reduce the amount of capacitance.
Today's attempt was a repeat of the first attempt, but more carefully done. We used a large DVD case (which is almost perfectly cylindrical) and carefully cut out the foil and kept it nice and smooth. Used a nail as the charging electrode and just connected it using more foil. We still can't get any charge using a PVC pipe (the piece of pipe I have is electrical PVC conduit which might be conductive which would explain it not working.) Instead we used a balloon rubbed on our heads. You can hear the crackling as the charge transfers from the balloon to the Leydan Jar capacitor. Works like a charm and doesn't require as much coordination as the pipe (so easier for Greggory to do.)
I should try to find a larger lid somewhere so it's not so precarious. The lid we used here was leftover from the first failed attempt.
Here's one experiment where Greggory got a good jolt.
Some photos of the capacitor itself.
