Re: Beating Solved

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Beating Solved
From: open_minded <bturner-at-apc-dot-net>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 01:55:42 -0700
Tesla List wrote:
> 
> >From bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-comSun Sep 15 21:26:53 1996
> Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 08:54:49 -0700
> From: Bert Hickman <bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-com>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Beating Solved
> 
> Tesla List wrote:
> >
> <SNIP>
> > >    The 'banjo' effect images are quite striking and beautiful, plus
> > >    there are a few others showing myself sitting atop an insulated
> > >    table tossing 4 foot sparks off metal rods and my fingers! (BTW
> > >    I am wearing chain-mail meat cutter's gloves which are connected
> > >    to the table via wires hidden in my sleeves.)
> > >
> > >    - Enjoy!
> > >
> > > - Brent
> >
> > OOPS!  I goofed it.....the subdirectory should be /turner! Sorry about
> > that.
> >
> >    ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sci/electrical/tesla/pictures/turner
> >
> > Dang. I hate it when that happens.
> >
> > - Brent
> 
> Brent,
> 
> The pictures are absolutely stunning! They're reminiscent of
> computer-generated 3D fractal landscapes or a "3D" video signal with
> amplitude in the Z axis. I'm examining each of them closely to see if
> there are any surprises. In addition to certain portions of a single arc
> channel being brighter than other portions, there's also the condition
> where the brightness of the whole channel begins to decrease, perhaps
> because current is being diverted to a newly forming channel? LOTS of
> things to look at in these detailed pictures!
> 
> What conditions/equipment did you use to take the pictures? Have you
> tried taking pictures of successive discharges to a grounded electrode?
> 
> Again, THANKS for sharing them with us!
> 
> -- Bert --


Bert (and the gang) -

Well, the discharges are coming off two 'corona points' (yes, I
know that is a big no-no....) into the air. My girlfriend who is a
semi-pro photographer zoomed in a bit and snapped of many, many frames
of just the disharge into the air, with eposure times of roughly 1 to
2 seconds max. There wasn't any heavy wind currents or anything to
blow the arc around either....!

What you are actually witnessing is what Richard Hull and Co. have
been talking about regarding repetitive strikes within an ionized
column. In this case, that ionized column was moving due to the heated
air rising, and also the energetic nature of the discharge itself. As
you can see, the multiple 'banjo' strings clearly illustrate the
burst/decay nature of the discharge spark. The coil was really starting
to sing at this point too.

I do agree with you that the photos are absolutely beautiful. I have
yet to see any other discharge photos that have this wonderful 'ethereal'
quality to them.

BTW - the photos were shot on Konica-200 color print film with a Canon
EOS camera.

The coil specs are as follows:

Secondary:

10" diameter, grey PVC ducting
#22-stranded, PVC wire, winding length=22" (didn't count the turns...)
20"x5" aluminum spun toroid electrode
max discharge length (so far) = approx 70"

Primary:

4 turns 1/4" copper refrig. tubing, flat spiral
(3) 0.02uf polypropylene pulse caps (Hipotronics) parallel
synchronous 1800-RPM gap, 8 electrodes (240 BPS)
3/8" gap electrodes, faced with tungsten-carbide blanks

Power:

120:1 ratio potential transformer, rated 1.5 KVa, but will go to
3.5 KVa before saturating - max output = 12KV

(2) 20-amp, 120-volt variacs in parallel through paralleling choke
(1) 30-amp, 30-volt varaic as variable inductance
(1) extra toroidial inductor (don't have the inductance spec handy)


This is a very, plain-vanilla setup. In fact, I've gotten the
thing to the point where I can pack the coil *and* the insulated
table (see the BRENT_x.JPG images) into the back of my pickup so
that I can take the system around and perform shows and demos with
it...

I hope to have more photos coming - stay tuned....(pun intended!!!)

- Brent