[c3833174]

Waay too boring following the safety police rules.

Playing with HV can be fun, just build fly swatter-level inverters instead of using a transformer/capacitors big enough to kill you.

A CCFL inverter from an LCD screen is a good start, you can light neon bulbs and gets ozone

[tubetime]

those are dangerous too--they output high frequency AC which can cause burns. with a thumb-sized CCFL supply i once burned a tiny hole in my finger. never bled a drop since the current cauterized it but it hurt for a week.

[c3833174]

You can burn yourself with a soldering iron or splashed solder too, better avoid electronics all together.

[dfox]

The fact that you can burn yourself with soldering iron is mostly obvious. That CCFL inverter can easily burn hole through you finger without you noticing it until it's too late is not that obvious.

[CamperBob2]

You'll live.

[dfox]

In both cases with overwhelming probability. But there is difference: you have to be extraordinary clumsy to get life-threatening burn from soldering iron, but you can get life threatening burn from HF HV very easily.

[CamperBob2]

Not from a CCFL inverter, you won't.

This thread serves as a great example of why it's not a good idea to plaster dire warning labels all over everything on the planet "just to be safe." When everything is dangerous, nothing is.