DIY Ball Lightning

To: "'Tesla List'" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: DIY Ball Lightning
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 00:16:02 -0500
Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net


----------
From:  randy-at-gte-dot-net [SMTP:randy-at-gte-dot-net]
Sent:  Saturday, April 04, 1998 10:07 PM
To:  Tesla List
Subject:  Re: DIY Ball Lightning


> From:  Keith Nagel [SMTP:knagel-at-cnct-dot-com]
> Sent:  Saturday, April 04, 1998 9:02 AM
> To:  Tesla List
> Subject:  Re: DIY Ball Lightning
> 
> Hi:
> 
> I strongly recommend you try this, regardless of the power
> rating of your oven. My unit is quite small, yet 

<snip>
> 
> The results are, in a word, quite startling. Large, loose 
> plasma balls will form and waft about the oven. The 
> xformer will humm, likely it's being driven into saturation
> by the effective short of the plasma. My unit seems none
> the worse for wear after repeated indulgence; your mileage
> may vary...

I have wondered whether it is the xfmr humming...or
the *plasma-ball* somehow humming in response to
unfiltered or under-filtered DC to the magnetron. I have
never had it hum much under any other load, but I like your
theory about an "effective short", or nearly so. It's impossible
for me to put it into words, but, the sounds is an "arc-like"
hum, rather than a transformer-core hum. Just my $.02.

> The connection to Tesla coils is obvious. Tesla undoubtedly
> observed this effect after repeated arcing near the coil
> form caused enough heated carbon to form to trigger the
> effect. My advice would be to get a feel for this with
> the microwave, then attack the coil. 
> 
> >
<whooops, didn't mean to snip this much>

Randy