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Re: TC Electrostatics (fwd)
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> From lod-at-pacbell-dot-net Sat Dec 7 08:44:09 1996
> Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 22:39:21 -0800
> From: lod-at-pacbell-dot-net
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: TC Electrostatics (fwd)
>
>
> Your theory of the DC component of the highly damped output waveform
charging
> the test plate is an intriguing one, but I can't see how the output
waveform
> can have a net long-term polarity (seconds), given that the primary ckt
is driven
> by a AC source, and therefore operates in each polarity mode half of the
time.
>
>
Rectification in gases is seen when there is a significant geometric
difference between the terminals of the "diode". The degree of
rectification
is also affected by the type of gas in question. In fact, this property is
used
in the "self-biased" reacive ion etchers used in the manufacture
of intergrated circuits. These etchers generally operate in the glow or
abnormal glow discharge regions. I even built one myself back at OSU for
etching niobuim metal films. With 20W of 13.56 MHz into the "driven"
electrode, I would get about 400 volts DC generated across the discharge.
This property is essential to the etching process since it rams the
chemically reactice ions into the film to be etched. Anyway, in the case
of the tesla coil, I would imagine ( Richard?) that the rectification would
be more effective (per watt expended) when the coil is producing lots of
corona and not so many arcs to ground.
Another possible experiment would
be to directly measure the DC component of the current at the base of the
tesla coil. Unfortunately, I'd guess that DC current component would be
about the order of a small Van De Graf --- maybe 10-100 microamps.
-Ed Harris