# in this video what IS making the heat



## ericrm (Sep 5, 2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur_Ye2E_KoQ
is it the electric arc that make the heat, than that heat heat up the graphite crucible and than the crucible heats up the metal to its melting point? or is it the electricity passing thru the crucible/metal that make the heat?


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## cnbarr (Sep 5, 2014)

I only watched a brief moment of your video and stopped after you mentioned tungsten, at a melting point of 6190F I fear your apparatus will fail before the tungsten melts, but ill finish watching to see the results.


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## Geo (Sep 6, 2014)

The actual arc is as hot as the surface of the sun. It was the radiated heat that melted the firebrick. Retry the experiment but with a couple of changes. Instead of trying to contain it, lay the metal on a firebrick without the crucible. Use two large gouging rods (bare, without the copper jacket) and use your welder. Clamp the rods in the leads and touch one to each or apposing ends of the metal. Turn on the welder and slowly pull one rod back until you get a good arc. The metal should melt within a few minutes. It will start melting at the plasma stream and work it's way to the other rod. Large metal furnaces use electricity to melt the metal and gas+oxygen to keep it melted.


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## ericrm (Sep 6, 2014)

cnbarr said:


> I only watched a brief moment of your video and stopped after you mentioned tungsten, at a melting point of 6190F I fear your apparatus will fail before the tungsten melts, but ill finish watching to see the results.


it is not my video...


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## ericrm (Sep 6, 2014)

sorry for the confusion and the wrong spelling ,it is not my video. im trying to understand were the heat is generated to see if i could use one like that for myself while using a bigger crucible as it seem better suited for my actual need
sorry again for the mistake


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## Irons (Sep 6, 2014)

ericrm said:


> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur_Ye2E_KoQ
> is it the electric arc that make the heat, than that heat heat up the graphite crucible and than the crucible heats up the metal to its melting point? or is it the electricity passing thru the crucible/metal that make the heat?



Current flow through the Metal and Arc generate the Heat.


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## ericrm (Sep 6, 2014)

thank you Iron, i know that it seem kind of simple ,but could this work ?, using a salamander crucible ,insulating it in a ceramic wool chamber ,would then the arc be hot enuf to melt a few pounds of metal. if yes what kind of volt/amp should i be looking for? in the video they show 30v 200amp but its only for a very small amount of metal i guess that more metal need more electricity?


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## Irons (Sep 6, 2014)

A lot of the Current will bypass the metal, flowing through the walls of the crucible. You need to have an electrode in contact with the Metal, and use the Crucible as Ground. 30Volts,200 Amps sounds like an Arc Welder was used. How much current you use will depend on how well the Crucible is thermally insulated to prevent Heat loss. Each Metal and Alloy has a specific amount of Energy that is required to convert it from a Solid to a Liquid. Once the Metal is liquid, it requires only the Energy needed to offset the Heat loss to the Environment.


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## ericrm (Sep 6, 2014)

those are the setup that i think could be possible, i dont like number 2 because as the metal melt lower, i would have to adjust continuously the graphite rod, for the others i dont know enuf about electricity to understand what would realy hapen . what i would wish for is to make either the crucible or the metal inside to become the heating element. if that is not possible is the number 2 realy my only option?


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## Irons (Sep 6, 2014)

C'est rien, mon Vieux. :mrgreen:


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## Geo (Sep 6, 2014)

Number 3 would be best. If you are melting gold, you don't want an arc. The arc would vaporized some of the gold. The resistance of the gold powder would be enough to melt it. Actually, for gold, you can simply pass the current through the graphite crucible from top to bottom and the resistance of the graphite will make the crucible glow white hot if the power were left on long enough.


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## ericrm (Sep 6, 2014)

Geo said:


> Actually, for gold, you can simply pass the current through the graphite crucible from top to bottom and the resistance of the graphite will make the crucible glow white hot if the power were left on long enough.


thank you geo, that the answer i was hoping for. when using resistance to get the heat, do i still need low voltage and high amp, or does it work the oposite high voltage low amp?


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## Palladium (Sep 6, 2014)

I remember as a kid my father ran the Shady Side Drive In located in Cullman. He was a projectionist by trade. It was an art back then that paid good money! I remember that we use to have to feed the projector rods that created a carbon arc so the projector would work. Looking through the peek site in the projector would just about blind you. It was neat as a kid to get to do these things and now that i remember back i think of the era and the history that time has forgot. Sorry didn't mean to hi jack your thread it just brought up the carbon arc memory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iScIfqfCGk


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## ericrm (Sep 6, 2014)

nah, its ok i love story and memory too


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## Geo (Sep 6, 2014)

Low voltage and high amperage like you get from a welder. If you just used 110v from a wall socket, it would trip a breaker and be very dangerous due to electrocution hazard.


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## ericrm (Sep 6, 2014)

ok, thank you Geo


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## bswartzwelder (Sep 7, 2014)

The power used there (30 volts at 200 amps) produces 6000 watts of heat. That is a lot of energy.


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## samuel-a (Sep 10, 2014)

Heat is produced in the way of resistance.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH8kkxZqzhE[/youtube]


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## ericrm (Sep 13, 2014)

nice video Sam


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