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FW: 130kW Coil -- Oh No!




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From:  LPaine999-at-aol-dot-com [SMTP:LPaine999-at-aol-dot-com]
Sent:  Tuesday, February 10, 1998 4:09 AM
To:  tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject:  Re: 130kW Coil -- Oh No!

What a most interesting post - a valid point to consider, certainly, but lucky
for us (or Greg) a not so worrisome one. As for me, I have much more
experience considering shockwaves - and watching other people do so - than
predicting electricity, so here are my two cents on the subject.
Sonic shockwaves have a bad reputation for destruction, and indeed they are
not benign, but often they hardly live up to many of their theoretical
predictions. In fact, many times they adapt relatively reasonably to their
environment. Part of the reality of their existence is that they tend to
originate from different parts of an object (such as lead points on a plane,
or only a specific section of a propeller travelling at a particular
rotational speed), so often there is not one but many shockwaves involved, and
many parts or sections are subsonic simultaneously. In a system that is
changing speed, and moving transonically at different points at any given
time, all of which are different at different atmospheric conditions, well,
there are lots of ways it can fail catastrophically, but I think it would more
likely be due to something like basic material fatigue than shockwave damage.
At least the first few times.
As for the coke bottle shape, it is a nice for aerodynamics, but not essential
for dealing with sonic shockwaves. It does help make things go fast, but
cannot push the supersonic envelope, or better shepard an object through it.
One example is the concerns about the fighter plane design as they are applied
to the sport of international unlimited land speed racing. Five time record
holder Craig Breedlove first used the coke bottle design for his jet car to go
600 mph. in the 60's, and it remains in a refined form in his car today. It
was a British team, however, that was the first to take a land based vehicle
(another jet car) to supersonic speed for the first time in history just this
past October. As Greg can testify (we were both lucky enough to witness it),
it was hardly curvilinear in design, but quite stable nonetheless.
Accomodating sonic shockwaves from a theoretical standpoint quicky can become
an intractable and undemonstratable problem. Fortunately, there are a few
adventurers available that happen to go out and try it so the rest of us can
watch the results from a safe distance. 

Cheers - L. Pine