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Re: plastic bottle caps

Subject: 
        Re: plastic bottle caps
  Date: 
        Wed, 26 Mar 1997 15:43:05 -0700 (MST)
  From: 
        Stanley Harle <lazer-at-earth.wazoo-dot-com>
    To: 
        Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>



On Wed, 26 Mar 1997, Tesla List wrote:

> Can a plastic bottle be used instead, I have these huge 2 litre 
> soft drinks bottles and was wondering if they are appropriate.

        Been there, done that, doesn't work.  At least, not at 15kV. 
But
the corone inside before they blow is pretty cool.  If you're going to
go
the bottle route, go with glass.  I esperimented a bit with plastic type
capacitors, and actually got my first spark (about 8 1/2") from caps
that
I constructed using 3 gallon polyethelene buckets.  Took 5 of them, and
boy were they a mess!

> Second question, what does the oil that is placed on top of the
> salt water used for ?

        Corona suppression.  If you build a cap from a 2 litre bottle,
you'll see it doesn't do much good in this application.  The sparks go
right through it and carbonize the oil.

Stan Harle
Alamogordo, NM