[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: Tesla Coil Operation - was "Harmonics"

>Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 14:46:36
>To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
>From: "John H. Couture" <COUTUREJH-at-worldnet.att-dot-net>
>Subject: Re: Tesla Coil Operation - was "Harmonics"
>

  Antonio -

  Pendulums with magnets are also not an accurate anology because magnets
are not mechanical. There is another reason. Magnets used in this way would
not duplicate the same eleectrical function that is in the Tesla coil.
Magmetism and electrostatics were known long before Faraday was born. 

  I believe the Tesla coil is a complex electrical apparatus and it is not
possible to duplicate its operation accurately using a mechanical analogy.
The main problem is in duplicating the transfer of energy thru space from
the primary to secondary coil. This involves electrical induction that was
discovered by Faraday. 

  This energy thru space is part of the electrical phenomena that Maxwell
explained in his treatise on electricity and magnetism. Maxwell proposed
that this type of energy transfer was possible thru space (no belts,
pulleys, or gears). Maxwell then developed the mathematical foundations for
electromagnetic waves. Maxwell's equations covered the work of Coulomb,
Oersted, Ampere, Faraday, Ohm, and other famous men.

  Seventeen years later Hertz discovered the radio waves (electromagnetic
radiation) that Maxwell had predicted. Hertz, however, believed radio waves
would never be of any use because of the limitations of his circuit. About
ten years later Tesla invented the circuit that improved Hertz's circuit and
made it a viable circuit for practical radio transmission. This circuit was
also the basis of the Tesla coil circuit which Tesla wanted to use as an
ultra high voltage transformer. A few years later Marconi patented a radio
circuit that was later nulified. The rest is history.

  John Couture

>
>--------------------------
>
>
>At 01:48 AM 1/22/99 -0700, you wrote:
>>Original Poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br> 
>>
>>John H. Couture wrote:
>>
>>>   I think that any mechanical anology of the Tesla coil operation can only
>>> be a poor example of how the TC works. Being an electrical engineer I look
>>> at the TC transformer as part of an energy transfer system that can be
used
>>> to transfer energy from a power source to a load. With the Tesla coil the
>>> energy is transferred from the primary coil to the secondary coil with no
>>> physical connection between the coils. There is no mechanical device that
>>> can replicate this kind of electrical magic.
>>
>>The differential equations that describe both systems are practically
>>identical (the mechanical system is a bit nonlinear), and so we can
>>say that both system work with the same dynamics. If you want a
>>mechanical system with "action at distance", make two pendulums using
>>bar magnets as the weights, both with the same vertical orientation,
>>so there is some repulsion between them. Add weight to one of them
>>to make it the "primary oscillator", tune both to the same frequency
>>by adjusting the lenght of one of the strings (ideally identical),
>>and set the "primary" in oscillation. The energy transfer is not
>>as in the case with mechanical coupling (this time there is only
>>repulsion), but the final effect will be similar, with energy
>>being transferred gradually from the primary to the secondary and
>>back. (I have just tested the idea. It works, but as there is no
>>equivalent to a transformer in the system, the energy is never
>>completely transferred to the secondary pendulum. The primary 
>>oscillates with a small variation in amplitude and the secondary
>>shows beats. The same happens in the mechanical analog if the 
>>connection bar is horizontal).
>> 
>>>   We call this the magic of electrical induction. We can thank Michael
>>> Faraday for making this discovery. 
>>
>>Don't forget electrostatic forces, known since antiquity.
>>
>>>   The Tesla coil is a special type of transformer that Tesla invented to
>>> make it possible to distribute electricity around the world without wires.
>>
>>This never worked, and very probably would never work...
>>
>>Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz
>>
>>
>>
>