[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [TCML] Touching 500Kv Tesla coil
> A wooden chair is not a good idea. Wood CAN retain
> moisture, and moisture
> WILL conduct the energy from the coil.
> Leave the 'fantastic demos' to the pro's.
>
> - brent
Interesting you should mention wooden chairs. I once used an old 48" flourescent tube taped to a stick of dry 2x2 pine for coil demonstration. The length of the lamp plus the length of the wooden spar put me 10' or so away from the kilowatt-class NST coil. I held the thing out like a long fishing pole to get one end of the tube lamp withing striking distance. The TC strike not only lit the tube very brightly, but also instantly broke out from the lamp prongs at my end. The spark jumped over to the end of the wooden stick, and rapidly (a few inches per second) worked its way down the pole toward my hands, eating into the wood with an orange-ish spark all the way. I pulled back to a safe distance before the crawling spark reached me. As an insulator, wood sux at high voltage & high frequency!
BTW - I tried the same setup using a length of PVC pipe and had no more issues.
Greg
_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla