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Re: Spark-gap sparks vs. solid-state sparks



Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br>

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Kennan C Herrick by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <kcha1-at-juno-dot-com>

> I think that the cause lies in the inertia of the air that the spark must
> push aside, i.e. heat up, for it (the spark) to advance.  As I wrote,
> that's the same mechanism that allows nuclear bombs to work (and aren't
> we thus in fine company?).

Humm... I would say that the heat is a consequence, not a prerequisite.
The current starts to flow first, and it's the current that heats
the air. Certainly there is a positive feedback mechanism once the
air starts to get hot, but without current there is no heating.
(I don't see the relation to a nuclear bomb, that has nothing of
electrical).

>...
> If my secondary's voltage rises to break-out in, say, 40 cycles while a
> comparable spark-gap-secondary's voltage rises in 2 cycles, then the
> exciting magnetic fields must rise by the same factor, of 1:20.  In order
> to get that 20X increase in field rate-of-rise, one needs 20X the current
> in the primary--from 20X the voltage applied.  Of course, that 20X
> current doesn't get applied for very long; not nearly so long as my ~7 ms
> per spark for example (Otherwise, coilers would be moving from California
> in droves.).

I commented before on this question of rate of rise. Remember that the
energy transfer occurs in several oscillation cycles (at least one 
full cycle for coupling coefficient=0.6). If the frequency
of the oscillations is not changed, the current and voltage amplitudes
are limited by energy conservation, and the number of cycles has little
effect on the maximum rate of rise of voltage or current anywhere in
the Tesla coil circuit. The visible output of the coil depends 
fundamentally on the energy available for each discharge, and 
to a certain extend also on the number of discharges per second
(the hot air, or ionized air, theories).

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz