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words, grounds, etc

>Dear dwp,

>You should be writing textbooks.
	I should be quiet, lest i put my foot in it AGAIN.  I have "assisted"
	Richard Q and others before in demonstrating the limits of textbook
	knowledge, sometimes by ASSing publically....  8)>>

>Maybe we need a new word for this "saturation" effect.
	In a purebred use of the english laguage (or its local dialect,
	'merican, 8)>>) "saturation" is a fine word, exactly intended to
	describe what is being seen.  It just gets used in a special and
	shorthand sense by _magnetic_ _core_ folk (the full phrase is more like
	magnetic core saturation...), so caution is needed.  And the mag-core
	case, is referring to saturation of an element in an (apparently)
	understood manner.  As applied to "saturation" of the power in/volts out
	of a coil, it is describing the behavior of a SYSTEM, a behaviour which
	I (and apparently others more skilled) find puzzling.  (My guess is
	that s the voltage climbs, corona & other things leak it off, but
	thats a GUESS from a bookworm...)

>I have been calling the very same thing the "zener effect" for about ten years. 
>That is, more power in = same spark out.
	Hmmmm.  OK, i had not read carefully enuf to recognize that.  To me
	"zenering" (from the "discoverers" name, the rest of which i cannot
	recall) is a SPECIFIC behavior of a back biased solid state diode.
	Notably useful for regulating voltage, clamping surges, etc.

>The effect gets worse as power levels go up.
	methinks this is a side effect of as power goes up, voltage tries to
	and the "corona" gets worse, but thast speculation.

	(build in space, an inflated ballon for a top terminal  8)>>)

	In any case, use care in my or anyones textbook based ravings.

=====================================
Stainless steel grounds...
Not having seen any others comment:  I happen to be reading a book written in
1870ish on lighting rod research.  This includes tests specifically of the
effectiveness of iron/copper/others.  One might intuit that iron, due to
magnetic effects would be bad.  THOSE tests (and i am sure there are more
modern, but i have not gottem) indicate that for "lightning" (test discharges
from Leyden jars) there is little if any difference, size & SHAPE of conductor
being more important.  (They were, at that date, calcualting the effective
frequencies, confirming by observation of expected interaction with known L and
C).  Lighting frequencies are in the general "coiling region" of 100K to 1M,
so the results would seem applicable.  Leyden jar discharges, as Tesla
Primary side, are commonly osciallatory.

==================================================
Measuring voltage...
I've a 1949ish textbook on HV work, somewhere.  The one techique i recall
is from a 1950s homebuilt van de graff article.  Basically, build a multiplier
of LOTS of hi meg resistors, stacked in series, & take the voltage just befor
sparking/streamering sets in.  Easier said than done, involving lots of
detail to keep leakage, etc from messing up the results.

I have heard it said that Tesla if WORKING (as opposed to testing) would have
operated below the point where streamers, etc, start.  But i cheerfully
yield to more careful reading/study.

	regards
	dwp
	(Who will be off the net for the next week or so...)