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Re: NASA's Tethered Generator

Subject:     Re: NASA's Tethered Generator
  Date:      Sun, 18 May 1997 06:17:18 +0000
  From:     "John H. Couture" <couturejh-at-worldnet.att-dot-net>
    To:     Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>


At 02:47 PM 5/16/97 +0000, you wrote:
>Subject:      Re: NASA's Tethered Generator
>       Date:  Fri, 16 May 1997 18:00:19 +1200
>       From:  "Malcolm Watts" <MALCOLM-at-directorate.wnp.ac.nz>
>Organization: Wellington Polytechnic, NZ
>         To:  tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>
>
>Hi John,
>            A comment or two on this one....
>
>>   From:  "John H. Couture" <couturejh-at-worldnet.att-dot-net>
>>     To:  Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>> 
>> 
>> At 05:35 AM 5/13/97 +0000, you wrote:
>> >Subject: Re: NASA's Tethered Generator
>> >  Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 13:35:48 -0500
>> >  From: David Huffman <huffman-at-FNAL.GOV>
>> >    To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>> >
>> >
>> >Ok if B=0.2Gauss, L=20.7km and v=12,000 m/s
>> >emf = BLv = 4997 volts.
>> >One end is 'grounded' in the ionosphere the other flows current with
>> >electron accelerators.
>> >The loop is the Earth and the universe.
>> >D.L.Huffman
>> >
>> ----------   Big snip
>> 
    
>>
>>   The universe of space is not involved with the tether circuit because
>> the
>> currents created cannot travel in the vacuum of space beyond the
>> ionosphere.
>
>What if you eject charged particles? The sun is doing it constantly. 
>That would equate a current at the point of ejection IMO.
>

>Ejecting heavy ions has been mooted as a possibility for years hasn't 
>it?
>
>Malcolm
>
-----------------------------------------------------------

  Malcolm -

  I was wondering if someone would bring up this particles/current from
the
sun phenomena. I didn't mention it before because it leads to a lengthly
but
interesting discussion.

  For starters, can you define electrical current. I wonder if any
coilers
have ever looked up the word "current" in the dictionary. When you do
you
will not find any mention of electrical current. You will find
definitions
like " a flow of water in a stream", "a passing of time"' etc. You will
have
to go to an electrical book like the Radio Amateur's Handbook which says
"a
movement of ions or electrons constitutes the electric current". This
leaves
a lot to be explained.

  With the flow of water or the movement of ions or electrons there is a
path to and a path from a destination. In other words a closed loop
circuit
. An electric utility engineer would regard an electric current as
flowing
from a generator via a conductor to a load and back to the generator via
a
different conductor. This type of circuit can carry large amounts of
electrical energy to a load.

  A radio, TV, radar engineer, however, regards the electrical energy
produced by a transmitter as radiated energy from an antenna into the
ionosphere or space. Even with radar almost all of this energy is lost
and
not returned to the source. This type of electrical energy is different
than
currents because there is no returned path to the source. This type of
electrical transmission will transmit so little energy to a receiver
that
the receiver must have its own power supply. Forget about the crystal
radios.

  When electrons are ejected from a cathode in a vacuum tube the
electron
stream  could well be called a current because the electron flow
eventually
returns to the source. We have now established that electrical energy
can be
transmitted either in a closed circuit or as a one way circuit. Both of
these forms of energy transfer indicate the dual nature of electron
motion.
This dual nature, currents and radiation, is beautifully compressed into
Maxwell's two fundamental electromagnetic equations.

  To get back to your question regarding the ejection of charged
particles
from the sun. This cannot be a current because there is no return path.
This
also cannot be called radiation because of the wave nature of radiation
which is in photon energy units. So it looks like these particles from
the
sun will have to be called  ONE WAY CURRENTS. Any comments??

  This now brings up the question of how Tesla coils fit into this
scenario.
Tesla invented this device as an air core resonant transformer to raise
voltages to ultra high potentials for transmitting currents thru the
ionosphere. There is no other electrical device that can do this with
large
currents. The return path would be the earth. This is the same type of
circuit that produces lightning.

  The ionosphere is presently loaded with both currents and radiation.
We
are fortunate in this universe that these currents and radiations do not
interfere with one another. Picking up the radiated energy (Hertzian
waves)
can be easily done with, you may have guessed, one of Tesla's
inventions,
the dual resonant RCL circuit, claimed later by Marconi as his
invention.
Marconi called it his four circuit invention to confuse the patent
office. 

However, picking up the ionospheric currents is another matter and is a
completely different method. This is why Tesla said his TC and world
electrical system would not use Hertzian waves. NASA is now using
Tesla's
ideas but they are not using Tesla coils. We don't have them ready yet. 
(:(].

  John Couture