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Re: tuning more accurately than 5% (fwd)



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 13:40:39 -0700
From: Jim Lux <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>
To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Re: tuning more accurately than 5%


 ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 02:15:53 -0400
> From: Richard Hull <rhull-at-richmond.infi-dot-net>
> To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> Subject: Re: Capacitance of a long thin rod (e.g. a spark) (fwd)
> Tesla List wrote:
>  This is how I do it.  I am also not deceived into thinking that this
"optimum"
> running tune is more than a +/- 5% mime of the real range of
instantaneous
> resonator system frequencies.  What it is, is a rough center frequency
for this
> resonator in  my room with the specific toroid in place at a fixed
humidity and
> temperature and with the sparks hitting those items it typically hits.
> 
> I stress this in my book on the CSN as did Tesla.  The resonator system
embraces
> much more than the wire and topload.  The system, in dynamic operation,
is
> non-linear.....So are a myriad of other factors associated with the
resonant
> frequency determination over even minute intervals of time.  The idea
that a
> disruptively discharged, high power, large sparking system can be tuned
to
> within a 5% Delta f about instantaneous system resonance is a pipe dream.

I fully agree... Perhaps a better use of mathematical models is to predict
the "general" behavior changes in response to changes, i.e. are big or
small toploads better, rather than is a 60.12 pF topload better than a
60.14 pF load.  And, of course, it is always nice if the theory corresponds
(at least in order of magnitude (which is a LOT bigger) than 5%) with the
empirical data.

For myself, the physicist in me wants to understand how and why it works
the way it does for which the theoretical discussion is interesting, the
engineer in me just wants to see it make big sparks with the least effort
and just a bit of guidance from theory (and avoid that "analysis
paralysis". And, I'm not a craftsman, so I'm not going to try and get the
last 0.001% out of it.   If I want bigger sparks, I'll build a bigger coil.

Good enough, is...

(although others will certainly disagree)