An electric egg on a metal base. C. 1910. The electric egg lies at the intersection of two technologies: high vacuum and high voltage. By the eighteen sixties vacuum pumps, and induction coils and electrostatic machines (including Wimshurst and Voss machines) had developed to the point where it was possible to create an electrical discharge in the residual gas between two small spheres in this vacuüm pulled space. The distance between the two poles can be in- or decreased by turning the knob on top of this object. Heighth 41 cm, diameter 9 cm.
