Re: How far away is safe

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: How far away is safe
From: "Robert W. Stephens" <rwstephens-at-ptbo.igs-dot-net>
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 21:47:36 -0500
>>From bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-comWed Nov 13 23:27:17 1996
>Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 06:50:43 -0800
>From: Bert Hickman <bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-com>
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: Re: How far away is safe
>
>Tesla List wrote:
>> 
>> >From tesla-at-america-dot-comTue Nov 12 21:43:38 1996
>> Date: Tue, 12 Nov 96 06:46 EST
>> From: Bob Schumann <tesla-at-america-dot-com>
>> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>> Subject: How far away is safe
>> 
>> First off, let me state I am using a good dedicated RF ground now!
>> 
>> I have been wondering about an effect that happenes during my coil
>> runs and believe it is attributed to human charge/capacitance but
>> don't know for sure; hence this post.
>> 
>> I can be 6 feet away from my coil during operation and get nippy
>> shocks when I touch certain objects. I have a friend who was 8
>> feet away and decided to turn off a table lamp and said he was shocked
>> be the plastic on/off knob. When within the system's field, does a
>> human aquire a charge or potential?
>> 
>> thanks,
>> Bob Schumann
>> 
>> P.S. Got to meet one of the list members, Richard Wall, at a recent
>> hamfest. A unique individual and the first I have met face to face from
>> the group. (He pointed out a good variac sale :)
>
>Bob,
>
>If you are wearing rubber soled shoes and are close enough to the coil,
>you can be "charged" through electostatic induction. I find that I often
>pick up a charge after firing the coil. I can walk over to the coil
>after powering down, and get a spark to jump to the grounded (through
>the secondary) toroid. For a lot of reasons this effect is much more
>observable with disruptive TC's than with tube or solid state coils,
>probably because of the larger voltage excursions and rapid damping
>after the first peak. 
>
>-- Bert --

Bert,

Although a large vacuum tube 
(true CW) Tesla coil will not leave isolated objects in the vicinity 
with a residual charge after it is turned off like the disruptive 
damped wave generator, it is still very good at swinging these 
isolated conductive objects, such as yourself on insulated shoes, in beat with 
the high voltage RF while energized.  When you happen to reach too close to any 
grounded metal object you can draw a painful arc which does not 
shock, but burns skin and tissue rather destructively and painfully.
Kids, don't try this at home!

rwstephens