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Re: Delta Fo (was How to raise secondary) (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 11:03:57 -0700
From: Jim Lux <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>
To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Re: Delta Fo (was How to raise secondary) (fwd)
> It is easy to observe in the operation of most coils that streamers
remain
> at almost the same places for long periods. There are certainly ionized
> channels attached to the terminal.
I think that whatever field irregularity tends to make the streamer come
from a particular point in the first place (e.g. a surface bump, a grounded
object nearby, the temperature increasing the ion emission from that
point), is stil there in the second, third, and Nth cases, which is why the
streamers tend to remain in the same place. The recombination lifetime of
ions in air is just too short (< 1 uSec), and the streamers are too small
in diameter to maintain any appreciable heat.
How can we answer this question? A very (!) fast motion picture or streak
camera might do the trick. I note that the hard-core spark researchers make
heavy use of these devices to understand the propagation of the streamers.
> Do the measurements show that the primary
> gap quench occur really before the initial conduction from the terminal
to the
> streamers? More reasonable would be a lower breakdown voltage for
reignition
> of attached streamers, and streamers draining current as soon as the
secondary
> voltage reaches this value, what can happen well before the opening of
the
> primary gap.
> An ion cloud is also something that can add to the secondary capacitance.
> I believe that both effects are present.