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Re: Leyden jar caps (Not shooting for anything gloriuous, but...)



Tesla List wrote:

> A better way to make a Leyden Jar capacitor is to use salt water on the
> outside as well as the inside of the bottles.  It tends to eliminate
> corona losses, and if a bottle breaks, the salt water is contained by
> the outside container.  It does make a series string more difficult
> (outside containers must be separated and insulated) and may exacerbate
> the shock hazard . . .

Why not metal foil inside and outside, of course in a bottle with
wide mouth? This is the classical design for a Leyden jar since more
than 200 years. 

And about using salt water, there is a possibility that I don't remember
seing discussed in this list, that is to use the water level for
tuning, in the simplest way by changing the level of the water at the
outer side of the bottles. A particularly convenient disposition
could be to use two capacitors in series with the center grounded,
in parallel with the power transformer and filter, having also in
parallel the spark gap and the primary coil, both in series.
The two capacitors would be bottles with salt water inside and
outside, with the outside water common and grounded. A pump, or
something simpler, as a bucket with water that is rised or lowered,
connected to the water around the capacitors by a syphon tube,
could be rather safely used for tuning, even with the system powered.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz