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Re: >> Subject: First post: Fluorescent lighting



Tesla List wrote:
> 
 
> Hi Phil,
> Just curious, can your mini TC produce sparks? Sparks are not wasteful if
> that is your goal. Do you know haw much high voltage you are making? 

Hi Dave,  Actually I did make a few sparks when I tried lighting too
many lamps 
with one small coil.  It wasn't a continuous discharge of sparks like
you might 
see from a conventional Tesla coil, just a flash when the windings
burned at one 
point.  Small sparks could be observed when I took the single wire and
put it in
close proximity to the metallic contact of the fluorescent lamp, but it
was not very
impressive.  BTW, I was also able to light a neon sign with the same
coil.

I would imagine that if one were to construct a coil of similar
construction with
a higher turn ratio, that it would be possible to produce sparks. 
However one 
would need to address the matter of breakdown on the insulation of the
windings.

> I didn't understand your statement about using higher voltage on the lamps.
> Isn't it current that does the work after ionization?
> Dave

It appeared to me that the lamp lit due to the electric field intensity,
and that
the light output was not as much a function of the current.  I might be
wrong on 
this, but it seemed the higher the voltage, the easier it was to produce
light.

Phil Gantt