Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for February 02, 2018

I remember playing with tesla coils in museums as a kid, but I don’t remember them making my hair stand on end. I just remember the electric thingies being attracted to my fingers.

don’t worry, Marigold, the “orb of mane-ruining” only temporally ruins manes; you just need a comb or brush to fix it

Marigold maybe good at magic but still not as smart as Twilight sparkle apparently.

Horses sometimes get St. Elmo’s Fire (a glowing, cold plasma that sometimes occurs near storms, and at other times when high electrostatic charges are present) on their ears and forelocks. It’s harmless and painless (it sometimes occurs on human beings, too), but very pretty—a horse “dressed-up” as a unicorn, with St. Elmo’s Fire dancing on his or her ears, forelock, and alicorn, would look truly magical!

Fun with static electricity.

Yes, like Doc Brown.

Phoebe, meanwhile, looks like Lindesfarne from Bill Holbrook’s “Kevin and Kell.”

Phoebe, meanwhile, looks like Lindesfarne from Bill Holbrook’s “Kevin and Kell.”

If Rarity touched that….

Marigold, don’t worry, just look around a little further. The “Orb of Mane-Ruining” (Van de Graaf generator) should be accompanied by a “Wand of Mane-Rescuing” (grounding stick). Just make sure you touch the Wand of Mane-Rescuing to a grounded metal connection before you touch anything else!

I love it when Marigold discovers new human stuff. She has such a sense of wonder…

Obligatory https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/7/74/Derpy_touching_a_plasma_ball_in_Dr._Hooves’_lab_S5E9.png

A man may be a true scientific man, and yet agree with Prof De Morgan when he says, "I have both seen and heard, in a manner which would make unbelief impossible, things called spiritual, which cannot be taken by a rational being to be capable of explanation by imposture, coincidence, or mistake. So far I feel the ground firm under me; but when it comes to what is the cause of these phenomena, I find I cannot adopt any explanation which has yet been suggested. . . . The physical explanations which I have seen are easy, but miserably insufficient. The spiritual hypothesis is sufficient, but ponderously difficult.

Researches in Spiritualism by Dr William Crookes 1874

“Crookes developed the Crookes tube, investigating cathode rays. .. one of the first scientists to investigate what is now called a plasma and identified it as the fourth state of matter in 1879.” Wikipedia

Dana confused a Tesla Coil activated plasma globe, which does not produce the effects shown, with a Van de Graaff static electricity generator, which can stand your hair on end. I have demonstrated both for science day activities in the past.

My girls when they get the frizzies.