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

Tesla List wrote:
> 
> >From wosburn-at-utk.eduFri Aug 23 22:18:10 1996
> Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 09:54:04 -0400
> From: "William L. Osburn" <wosburn-at-utk.edu>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Safety FAQ is here -- draft, asking for comments.
> 
> Richard wrote -
> 
> >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 et al,
> 
> Isn't this where Physics kicks in?  I think the minute the arc strikes and
> energy is released, both in the discharge but also in the fact that the ions
> give off a photon and jump to a LOWER energy level, thus taking longer to
> charge this area.  Meanwhile the arc builds and discharges to another, more
> preferable area now sufficiently charged.  I wonder if this would show in
> video in total darkness?  The only light would be from the coil itself.
> This is the best time to view the coils.  I guess that's why I love to do
> this kind of stuff...
> 
> What are your thoughts on this?
> (Still wading through all these messages, I've been out of town for almost a
> week.)
> Later,
> *** Magic Bill ***


Bill,

The single visible arc, over 28 video frames is struck and turned off 
hundreds of times!!  Some arcs last tens of discharges and some hundreds 
perhaps thousands!  Why?  Physics is obviously involved, but offers no 
simple answer to the question.  There are lots of suggestive thoughts, 
but no answers, yet.

Richard Hull, TCBOR