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Re: Rectifying Action? Might it be that simple?
In a message dated 1/3/99 3:00:38 AM Mountain Standard Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes:
>
> The rectification is a function of the terminal geometry, not the
> material. Any aluminum oxide layer would be much too thin to withstand
> the voltages involved.
>
> Ed
>
Ed,
I cannot argue on this. Perhaps Reinhard can investigate using hexagonal
vs round aluminum standoffs to see if rectification is indeed happening due to
the shape of the gap pieces.
I really don't know what is causing Reinhard's coil output to improve by
substituting the aluminum standoffs for the copper pipes. The aluminum oxide
as a dielectric helping to quench the arc was just one of many thoughts that
came up. I was only thinking that it might increase the breakdown voltage on
reoxidizing (which should happen quickly with the heat, ozone, etc) and
quickly change the conductivity - going from freshly exposed, highly reactive
aluminum metal to the oxide. The freshly exposed aluminum metal could even
aid in ionizing the air in the gap, by donating three electrons per atom while
at the same time reoxidizing.
If there are 3 or 4 pieces of aluminum in the gap(and two oxide layers per
piece), this could add up to many hundreds of volts difference between the
conducting and non-conducting modes. It also could be due simply to the oxide
layers causing a slightly higher breakdown voltage to exist, which would allow
the primary cap to attain more energy before discharging. Maybe it has
nothing to do with quench at all.
Still pondering in Colorado,
Mike