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Carrying a Full Load (fwd)



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 98 16:35:08 PDT
From: Dave Lochhaas <lochhaas-at-computerland-dot-net>
To: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Carrying a Full Load

Hi to the List from Mid-Missouri,

I'm brand new and carrying a full load of questions.  To be fair, though, I thought I would provide a few answers to frequently asked questions first.  The answers are: " Yes," "Yes," "Maybe," "Let me get back to you on that one," and my favorite "You just don't get it do you."

These are my questions:

1.  I have a beefy old bug zapper that's spent the last fifteen years in the garage in storage so it didn't suffer much when I took it apart.  It has a transformer that will draw about a quarter inch arc across a gap.  Can I build a small Tesla coil with this?  I've search all the websites but can't find any reference this.

2.  The secondary of the above transformer has a red stubby cylindrical component that is marked with:  MDC     10000M     Z5R     18KV.       What is this thing?

3.  I've read that spark gap arcs, like arc welding arcs, emit harmful UV.  Does a Jacobs ladder also do this?  What is the physics by which UV is produced in arcs such as these?

4.  I got to examine the fluorescent tube circuitry in this bug zapper and realized I really don't know how this works.  What I've got is an iron core inductor in one leg of the AC feed that then goes to one pin at one end of the bulb.  The other pin at the same end goes to the starter (a neon bulb and cap in parallel) and then goes to one pin at the other end of the bulb.  And the other pin at this end goes to the other leg of the AC.  What's with this thing?

Okay, some pretty basic questions, I think.  Please don't use any of my "answers" from above, especially, "You just don't get it do you," as I already know that.

Thanks for any help.  And hey, its Friday night.  I've got to get that bug zapper back together, cause I've got a cold six pack, and its this evening's entertainment.

Dave "the June bugs are the best" Lochhaas