[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: Light Bulb Experiment (ala Brent Turner)
Possible explanation of Bert's observations:
1. He is right, and going off resonance (in the primary circuit)
would, I think, reduce the current input.
2. As far as discharge from the secondary goes, that both provides
a shunt path and reduces the secondary Q, which in turn reduces the
coupling (which is proportional to k times square root of primary
and secondary Q's). Think the latter effect is what is happening.
3. As far as internal arcs in the lamps, remember that the current
is flowing in very short pulses, so that the peak current (and,
of course, voltage) can be many times the effective current. I
have a wavemeter here I use for checking resonance. It has both
a thermoammeter and lamp bult as resonance indicators. I can easily]
get arcover of the tuning capacitor when the lamp is in the circuit,
indicating over 1000 volts peak in the tank circuit. When reading
current with the thermoammeter this doesn't happen as easily,
apparently because of heavier tank loading and hence lower surge
impedance.
Ed Phillips