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Evaluation needed




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From:  Dan Ressler [SMTP:danz_da_man-at-hotmail-dot-com]
Sent:  Wednesday, February 11, 1998 5:14 PM
To:  tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject:  Evaluation needed

Hey all,
Im having trouble understanding the theory of the tesla coil and the 
tank circuit.  But after much pondering I have come up with an 
explination that I think makes sense......so give me your input.  

A tesla coil is simply a special transformer that uses the series 
resonant circuit to step up the voltage of the input power.  
		A series resonant circuit consists of a coil, a capacitor, and the 
resistance of the wire.  Energy is stored on one terminal of the 
capacitor and in the coil (the coil stores energy in a magnetic field, 
this is called inductance), but as the capacitor fills up the magnetic 
field of the coil breaks down causing an inductive kick (theoretically 
this would result in a voltage in the coil infinitely high and 
infinitely short, but since the capacitor fills gradually the magnetic 
field is converted into electricity gradually).  This energy then 
travels back through the circuit and builds up on the other terminal of 
the capacitor, and the process repeats its self until the energy is 
damped out by the resistance of the wire.  This process is synonymous to 
a pendulum swinging back and forth.
		If energy is applied to the circuit at the right frequency (the 
circuit's resonant frequency) the voltage in the system will build up to 
huge voltages (in a perfect world the voltage would reach infinity).  
This is synonymous to pushing the pendulum at the right times so that 
its amplitude increases.  
		In the case of the tesla coil the transformer adds energy into the 
tank circuit, not at the resonant frequency, but the voltage still 
escalates.  When the voltage is high enough it jumps the spark gap.  The 
gap produces "white noise", or all possible radio frequencies, one of 
these frequencies is the resonant frequency of the tank circuit.  The 
energy see-saws back and forth at the resonant frequency and the voltage 
jumps to extreme voltages.
		Next, the secondary coil absorbs the energy in the tank circuit 
through coupling.  When the energy in the primary circuit reaches zero 
the spark gap extinguishes, and the above process begins again.
		Meanwhile, the secondary coil is acting as a tank circuit by its self.  
The winding of the coil have a small capacitance.  The coil also has 
inductance, energy is stored in a magnetic field, and there is 
resistance.  These are all the components of a tank circuit.  The tesla 
coil is designed so that the resonant frequencies of the primary coil 
and the secondary coil are the same; and the secondary absorbs the 
energy of the primary coil at this frequency.  The result is the voltage 
climbs and climbs as it gets higher in the secondary coil.  The voltage 
gets so high the electricity can flow through even air.

Tell me if this is a good explination........
Just as a final thought, I turned in my tesla coil for my high school 
science fair project, and the teacher was scared out of his wits that I 
made this ting with his signature on the forms, he is barring me from 
entering the real science fair because he thinks it is too 
dangerous.......still I think he was very impressed
Dan
Danz_da_man-at-hotmail-dot-com

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