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Re: [Bulk] Re: [TCML] voltage



Hi Jay,

Heck, some professional Tesla coil stuntsmen
(Austin Richards - aka Dr. MEGAvolt, immedi-
ately comes to mind) still herald the million
volt claim of their machines. Of course, in
the entertainment industry, inflated claims are
pretty much "the norm" and are to be expected.
And, as others have already mentioned, little handheld
1" gapped electrode stungun manufacturers proclaim
outrageous voltage claims for their products. I seem to
recall seeing voltage claims as high as 3 million volts! I
have often wondered just what criteria they use to ob-
tain their arbitrary voltage data.?? It only goes to show
just how "ignorant" the average John or Jane Doe is
about the physics of electricity, especially high voltage.

I recall seeing a documentary on the History Channel about
lightning years ago (mid-late 90's?) where they showed Richard
Hull with his Nemesis coil in action and the narrator stated
that, "these 2 million volt sparks leap 10 ft. through
the air". That claim would fall pretty close in line with
Bob Svangren's suggested standard "Goldman" factor
of 20 kV/inch, eh? And hey, it was on the History
Channel so it must be good scientific data, right? ;^))
Before I go any further, let me state that I am in no
way taking a "potshot" at Bob Svangren, as I have
great deal of respsect for this true old school coiler
who was successfully building big coils before many
of the current TCML membership were even born!
Bob was simply proposing ideas to make the "scinece"
of the sparks more "user friendly". I do agree that the
average John Q. Public isn't going to know the difference
if you say that it's 1/2 MV or 1 MV (or really care as
either is a "crapload" of voltage to them ;^) And they
are going to quickly tune you out if you go trying to
explain the realtionship of the L1C1 to L2C2, along
with all of the long mathematical formulae. The average
casual observer only desires a "short answer".

I agree with you Jay in that probably just about all of
us have gone through the "learning curve" where we have
at one time or another been guilty of making voltage
claims for our coils that were likely "inflated". I figure
with most of us, as it was with myself, it was mostly due
to ignorance as opposed to deliberate deception. Thanks
to the vast knowledge tank of this list, as only a hobby level
electronics tinkerer, I have come to learn a great deal
more about this most intriguing subject than I knew 10
years ago. :^)

David Rieben


----- Original Message ----- From: <jhowson4@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2012 7:27 PM
Subject: [Bulk] Re: [TCML] voltage


"Well you could lie to the audience and claim a million
volts. Anyone who does the back-of-envelope conservation
of energy arithmetic will the ludicrous exaggeration."
Not necessarily as that would be based on current as well. And indeed the current could be pretty low for all the audience member knows. Think VDG, super high voltage, super low current.
Now we all know better but...

Anyway,
I think we all have made these claims of million volt coils and the like at one point or another, and this is largely because at the time we did not know any better. Heck Tesla himself made such claims, and i have not seen any recorded evidence that demonstrated how he tested his voltages. But then again I have not really been looking.

My evolution on this matter was based on the BTC30 TC from information unlimited, it says 250Kv on the box, so that is what I based all my claims on for a time. (yes I know it pains me to say that I spent my allowance on that some years back, but hey it makes a great little demo coil and is still kickin after 10 years) Then I learned a little and found some other parameters online from other reputable individuals coils and used those ratios to make my claims. Now I have been estimating based on the graph that Java TC produces, and a little intuition. When I build a tester and actually take measurements I will once again revise my claims. That seems like the basic principle of science to me, you keep working on your theory as you get new information.

Now doing that would be lot easier especially to those new to coiling if we have some forms of standardized scientific method of estimation, but as I mentioned before putting some actual Tesla coil measurements behind it. Standards don't have to be some number that applies blankly to all situations. But could be sets of data that allow you to make your own estimations. Some form of document that would allow people who don't have the technology to test, to at least make some form of educated guess based on a list of parameters and a document who's model could be improved upon with time as more data is accumulated. The end result being a series of graphs that correlate various parameters to overall voltage spark length etc.

I think this initiative to better our understanding on a particular subject would be something Mr. Goldman would be supportive of and would be proud to have his name attached to. But i wont go as far to say that it should be named after him. Perhaps after analyzing the data in a few years it will be found that you can blankly apply 20kv per inch or whatever, who knows. But until then, I will continue to estimate to the best of my ability with the tools I have at hand.



Thanks,
John "Jay" Howson IV


"Why thank you, I will be happy to take those electrons off your hands."

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Nicholson" <tcml88@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2012 5:24:53 PM
Subject: Re: [TCML] voltage

Bob Svangren wrote:

I would much prefer to tell my audience that my coil is
producing a million volts. How could they dispute this.

Well you could lie to the audience and claim a million
volts. Anyone who does the back-of-envelope conservation
of energy arithmetic will the ludicrous exaggeration.

If you can't be bothered to measure the voltage or calculate
it, then you must say "I don't know".

I'm really don't think it's a good idea to use the name of
a well-respected guy to name this lie. I think the name B.S.
voltage standard might be more appropriate here.

--
Paul Nicholson
--
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