Re: John's formula, spark length

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Esondrmn-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 8/29/02 12:51:05 PM Pacific Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:


>
> Hi,
>
> John's formula is at the bottom of this page:
>
> http://hometown.aol-dot-com/futuret/page5.html
>
> It is:
>
> Ques: How long will my sparks be for a given input power? 
>
> Ans: In a well designed TC, the spark length will follow the formula: 
>
> spark length (inches) = 1.7*sqrt input power (wallplug watts) 
>
> Cheers,
>
>         Terry




Haven't looked at John's page for a while.  Does the formula somehow take into
consideration the size of the coil?  My 6.0" diameter coil which I run at about
6kva should produce about 132" sparks according to the formula.  The best I
have achieved is 104".  I do believe that a 10" or 12" diameter coil with this
much power input could certainly produce 132" sparks.  For a given size coil,
there is a maximum level of power that can be input to the system.  By just
using the formula, one could expect 132" sparks with 6,000 watts input to a
3.0" diameter secondary - which I don't think is feasible.

Sometimes I think I am on the verge of destroying my secondary at 6 kva.

Ed Sonderman