lit bulb in the hand trick

Justin Kuhn

Justin Kuhn

Veteran
I saw an article in American Cinematographer about the making of an advertisement (printed in American Cinematographer, natch) featuring a venerable ASC Cinematographer a while back. The photograph featured the gentleman holding a light bulb in his bare hand. The bulb was on.

I seem to recall that he held the bulb in one hand and touched a battery with the other to make the gag work, but I'm not sure as to the voltage of the battery, or if that's indeed how it worked. Anybody have any notion on how to pull this off with out electrocuting anyone?
 
It can be done with static electricity and a fluorescent light. Using a static generator such as a tesla coil a field will be created and you can actually touch the coil with one hand and light the light with the other. A similar but much smaller effect can be seen just by rubbing a baloon through your hair and then bringing it near a fluorescent bulb.
 
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