Electrostatic Physics Labware Lab Equipment Manufacturer, Supplier and Exporter in India

Thirty-one items are listed here covering the electrostatics bench: charging rods and cloths, electroscopes, Faraday's ice pails and butterfly net, proof planes and insulated spheres, a Leyden jar, electric whirl and electrophorus, and three Van de Graaff generator entries, with a Wimshurst machine appended at the end. Two safety points separate this category from the rest of the physics range, and they point in opposite directions: a Van de Graaff generator gives a startling shock but stores very little energy, while a Leyden jar or a Wimshurst machine stores real energy and holds it after the machine stops. Both are set out below.

Last updated: October 2026.

The range, by what it does

The Van de Graaff generator: what it is and is not

A Van de Graaff generator produces a very high voltage at a very small current. The shock from the dome is sharp and startling and it makes students jump, but the stored energy is small and a healthy person is not normally harmed by it. That is not a reason to be casual with it, and the following belong in the practical sheet rather than in the teacher's head:

• Anyone with a cardiac pacemaker, an implanted defibrillator or any other implanted electronic device must stay away from the apparatus and must not touch it or anyone touching it. Ask the class before the demonstration, privately if that is easier, and arrange the room so nobody has to explain themselves in front of everyone.
• Keep electronics out of range. Discharges couple into nearby equipment: hearing aids, mobile phones, laptops, watches and laboratory instruments can all be damaged. Clear the bench and ask students to leave phones at the back of the room.
• Discharge the dome with the earthed sphere on its insulating handle, never with a hand, and earth the dome before touching the machine for any reason, including moving it.
• No flammable vapours anywhere near it. The machine makes sparks by design, so it does not share a room with solvents in use.
• Ask the supplier what output the machine is rated at, which accessories RE-0074 contains, and whether the motor-driven version (RE-0075) has a speed control, since belt speed sets the output. Ask what the belt is made of, what a spare costs and how it is changed, because the belt is the part that fails. Humidity is the other enemy: ask what the machine needs in the way of a dry room, since in a damp laboratory a Van de Graaff will barely charge.

The Leyden jar and the Wimshurst machine: these store real energy

This is the distinction that matters and it is the one most often missed. A Leyden jar is a capacitor. A Wimshurst machine normally has capacitors built into it. Unlike the Van de Graaff dome, a charged capacitor holds a quantity of energy that can be released all at once, and it stays charged after the machine has stopped turning. A shock from a charged jar is in a different category from a shock off a Van de Graaff dome and should be treated as capable of real harm.

So: the jar and the machine's capacitors are deliberately short-circuited with an earthed discharge link before anyone handles them, every time, including before putting the apparatus away; they are left with the discharge link in place in storage; and the demonstration is run by staff rather than by students. Ask the supplier what capacitance the jar is, what the machine's capacitors are, and whether a discharge link with an insulating handle is supplied, and if it is not, buy or make one before the apparatus is first used.

Rods, cloths and the thing that actually makes this bench work

Electrostatics is the one part of a physics syllabus that fails for reasons of weather. Charge leaks away through damp air and over damp surfaces, so in a humid laboratory none of these experiments work well, and students conclude the physics is wrong rather than the conditions. Ask the supplier nothing about this, because it is yours to manage: keep the rods and cloths dry and in a closed box, warm them gently before a lesson if the room is humid, run the practical in the driest room you have, and avoid the hour after the floor has been mopped.

On the apparatus itself, ask: which rod materials are supplied and which charge sign each takes with the supplied cloth, since the whole point is the pairing rather than the rod; what the rubbing cloth is and whether spares are available, because flannel wears out and loses its effect; whether the gold leaf (RE-0063) is a consumable sheet for repairing electroscopes and how it is fitted, since this is the part of an electroscope that tears; and for the electroscopes, whether the case is sealed enough to keep the leaf away from draughts and damp. For the electrostatics kit (RE-0059), ask for the contents list, because a kit that duplicates rods you are buying separately is wasted money.

Also worth confirming

Quote the code rather than the name. This listing has several specific problems worth knowing before you order from it. The best-known item in the category is misspelled: the generator is a Van de Graaff, with two a's, and all three entries spell it otherwise, which means a search for the correct name will not find them. The Leyden jar is spelled Lyden; electrophorus is spelled electrophorous; cylindrical is spelled cylinderical. Apostrophes are missing from Biot's and from both Faraday entries. Around eight names have the word "exporters" appended to them, which is not part of any product name. Most names are in capitals with a boilerplate suffix. Three items in the listing belong to other categories, and three further items use code formats from elsewhere on the site, one of them sharing its prefix with the heat and engine range. Ask also for dimensions and materials, the manual with the expected result, the quantity per student group, consumables including gold leaf and rubbing cloths, the supply voltage, frequency and plug type for your country for the motor-driven generator, and the warranty.

Related ranges on this site

Circuits, cells, meters and supplies are under Electricity and Cell Lab and Electricity. Magnets, coils, transformers and motor kits are under Magnetism Physics Equipments, which is where the bicycle dynamo and the electric motor model in this listing properly belong. Engine models are under Heat and Engine Physics Lab Equipments, and the discharge tubes that need a high-voltage supply are under Optics Physics Lab. Parent range: Physics Lab Equipments.

Request a quote

Ask for the electrostatics bench as a working set rather than as separate items. For example a Van de Graaff generator (RE-0073 or the motor-driven RE-0075) with its accessory set itemised and a discharge sphere on an insulating handle confirmed, one off; plus rods in each material with matching rubbing cloths and spare cloths, and two electroscopes with spare gold leaf, for eight groups. Contact Ray Export for prices, dimensions and lead times.