Robert Van De Graaf

In order to collect and store large amounts of electric charge, American scientist Van De Graaf developed an electrostatic generator. The machine, now known as the Van De Graaf Generator, contains a metal sphere in which an electrical charge can build up to an amazing 10 million volts! It is used primarily to study the particles that make up atoms. The accumulated charge is transferred to the particles, causing them to crash together at great speed. Scientists have learned a great deal about the behavior of atoms from observing such collisions.