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Re: Safety FAQ is here -- draft, asking for comments.

Tesla List wrote:
> 
> >From MALCOLM-at-directorate.wnp.ac.nzSun Aug 18 21:54:28 1996
> Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 10:07:29 +1200
> From: Malcolm Watts <MALCOLM-at-directorate.wnp.ac.nz>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Safety FAQ is here -- draft, asking for comments.
> 
> Hi all,
>         Following on from thoughts on arc growth, and Richard's
> reply....
> 

Sniperoo...
> 
> I think the hanging on has to do with a higher degree of ionization
> in the attached channel. The secondary is dumping its contents as
> fast as the primary is delivering. I have captured this happening on
> the storage scope. The result in the time domain is a single (as
> opposed to multiple) beat envelope - in fact the beats disappear. In
> this condition, each primary cycle delivery of energy to the
> secondary is being lost from the secondary rather than being trapped
> once the system voltage has risen high enough to turn a hot channel
> into an extremely hot channel. The scope showed that several cycles
> were required for secondary voltage to rise sufficiently at which
> point the output, instead of ringing all the way up was suddenly
> attenuated and showed discharge artifacts (severe spiking). In fact,
> the system under these conditions has attained critical coupling (max
> power transfer).
>      I think the attached channel stretches due to its rising by
> convection and eventually loses it due to the stretch becoming longer
> than the voltage needed to maintain it, whereupon a new one forms.
>      Richard Quick's video shows this happening in graphic detail.
> You can see the frame-by-frame stretch occurring.
>      I am open to refutation of this view of things of course.
> 
> Regards,
> Malcolm

Malcolm,

I have reviewed a number of special slow-motion segments of maggy #11 and 
Nemesis.  In a number of hits, the arc channel did not rise more than 
2-4 inches and the arc waxed and waned four or five times over 28 frames 
(28/30 of a second) while the tip of the arc contact on the aluminum 
siding (grounded) moved under 2 inches.  I don't think the rising spark 
has anything to do with the final ultimate break.  The bit about the 
resonator failing to store the magnetic energy as the channel heats up 
sounds good, though.  This probably cuts the power back causing 
successive waxings and wanings.  Still, what causes that final shutdown 
and failure to restrike along a good path that is pre-ionized?  Seems 
like some charge depletion or saturation effect to me.


Richard Hull, TCBOR