Physics education research, electronic materials, and the musings of Christopher Moore, Ph.D.

I've come up with an extremely geeky (and fairly impractical, of course) clock, which I intend to try and build, and want to know if it would work.  Explanation follows...

You may have seen the experiment where a polystyrene ball is suspended, on a thin thread, between two metal plates, with a large potential difference across them (typically a few kV).  The ball is alternately attracted to the + and - plates as it takes on the charge of whichever plate it hits.
Having performed some preliminary experiments (not very scientifically controlled, mind you), by decreasing the distance between the plates (to about a millimetre more than the diameter of the ball), and also decreasing the potential difference (to stop it arcing), I have found that the frequency seems to be comparatively stable.  I managed to get the frequency into the audible range (I would estimate 100 to 200 Hz), and the tone sounded as though it were constant for a given setup.
When the ball hits either plate, a small charge will move between the plate and the ball, and thus a small current will flow for a short duration.  This pulse of current can be detected with appropriate circuitry (details further down), and these pulses can be counted and used to regulate a clock.
Of course, this idea has no practical application, but it would be an interesting project for me to waste some time on.  So the question is: would it work?

The circuitry I'm thinking of is a small resistor (eg 10 ohms) in series with the lead to one of the plates; a comparator is then connected across the resistor.  This should convert the tiny pulses of current into a pulsed voltage signal at a level which can be used to control TTL or CMOS logic devices (ie. the counter and display).  I have tried out the circuit in Crocodile Clips, and it seems to work...

The experiments I have done so far were done during breaktime in a physics lesson (I'm an A level student btw), so they are not exactly scientific.  However, they do suggest that the idea may be workable.

PS. If I'm talking complete nonsense, please do say so...