Actually, sterility is no necessary!! Remember NOTHING grows in the presence of silver!!!!! No need to increase your workload by sterilizing things first!!! The CS will take care of that for you!! Simple rinsing with DW is all that is necessary.
From: Nicola Kay <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 01:21:33 -0800 To: [email protected] Subject: CS>To Ronen re CS generator Resent-From: [email protected] Resent-Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 02:20:20 -0800 Hi Ronen, I am new to all this but I have made what might be the simplest of all generators. The pro¹s here will hopefully correct any erroneous advice and add their knowledge to what I¹m telling you. If you have an AC/DC adaptor (I used one from a no longer functional cordless phone has 24 volt output), just cut the jack end off, separate the wires and trim them back so you can wrap them around small alligator clips (cost about 25 cents). IF you don¹t have an AC/DC adaptor, you might find one at a garage sale or 2nd hand store for 50 cents or more (some people give them away as useless). Get some .999 silver (you can get it at ebay or perhaps from a local store, jeweller) or there are people on this list who sell it very cheaply. Shouldn¹t cost more than $5 or so to get started. You have to buy distilled water which is no more than a couple of dollars from your local supermarket or drugstore. Then sterilize a glass jar of any size (I use a 2 cup canning jar) and create a cover¹ or lid for it that will accommodate the silver wire. You can also insert an air hose (air pumps for aquariums are only a few dollars often you can find them at 2nd hand stores for around $1) to help keep the wires from producing black gunk in the water when the CS is being made. There are many ways to create a cover but here¹s what I did (creativity is the key here): I made a cover for my jar from an oversize plastic peanut butter jar lid. This lid is larger than my canning jar and therefore just sits on top of the jar. I hammered a large nail through the lid to run the air hose through, and then made a couple of small holes by hammering small nails through two opposite edges of the lid so they fit just inside the jar the small nails are the size of the silver wire. Then you can lay the alligator clips holding the silver wire on top of the lid so the wire runs down into the water. You should sterilize all tools and components by pouring boiling water to cover the items before putting anything into the distilled water. This includes the cover and jar and all bits and pieces being used to produce your CS. My CS startup cost was $2: I had the AC/DC adaptor, my friend gave me the two pieces of silver wire and the alligator clips, I already had an aquarium pump and hose (which I sterilized), only had to buy the distilled water. Good luck and be creative! Just make sure everything is sterile before using.
