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Re: Primaries and Copper Tubing



Subject:  Re: Primaries and Copper Tubing
  Date:   Thu, 24 Apr 1997 13:38:21 -0400 (EDT)
  From:   FutureT-at-aol-dot-com
    To:   tesla-at-pupman-dot-com


> Gold is only slightly better than aluminum in resistivity. The one
> reason
> it is used in electronics is its resistance to corrosion. Silver is the
> best conductor ignoring superconductors. It would be pretty hard to beat
> good old copper tubing!
> In the primary isn't there a few ohms of resistance at the spark gap? In
> a
> series circuit the primary resistance seems to be a small part of the
> total.
 
> silver   p=1.59 microhm-cm
> copper   p=1.67 microhm-cm
> gold     p=2.35 microhm-cm
> aluminum p=2.65 microhm-cm
> iron     p=9.71 microhm-cm
> tungsten p=42.0 microhm-cm
> carbon   p=1375 microhm-cm
  >>

David, 

You're absolutely correct, in any reasonable primary 
tank circuit, most of the resistance is in the gap, and 
most of one's efforts should be aimed in that direction. 
 Certainly, we should not ignore our primaries, but
herculean efforts will not pay off in tangible results.
 It should be noted that over the years, innumerably
 more TCs have failed due to poor gap design than 
due to excessive primary resistance.  Primaries with
only a few turns will demand more attention to limit
losses.  My latest primary is wound with 42 turns.

John Freau