Re: theory(?) for long sparks

To: "'Tesla List'" <tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Re: theory(?) for long sparks
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 00:15:26 -0600
Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net

From: 	Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz[SMTP:acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br]
Sent: 	Tuesday, December 02, 1997 11:03 PM
To: 	Tesla List
Subject: 	Re: theory(?) for long sparks

Malcolm wrote:

>            Just to inject a note into this *very* interesting
> discussion, you can greatly lengthen high voltage sparks by
> providing a few intermediate "steps" such as isolated bits of metal.

Something similar certainly works with electrostatic generators. I fix a 
small ball to the main positive terminal with a short section of plastic tube,
and get longer sparks than with the main terminals alone (in a Wimshurst
machine, for example). But almost the same effect is obtained with a
direct connection, and the trick works only with the positive terminal.
I don't know what would happen in a Tesla coil. Someone coild make a test.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz 
mailto:acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq