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Re: Phantom Arcs
Hi Grayson,
>I recently read about similar arcs in a book regarding a variety of
>Tesla's experiments, and the mentioning was in a part written by
>Tesla,
>concerning his high-frequency experiements. I can't, for the life of
>me,
>remember what the name of the book was.
>Grayson Dietrich
This probably came from one of Tesla's lectures, "Experiments with
Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency" (1891), where he
described what he called "phantom streams" encountered with an early
bipolar coil. He writes "a most curious form of discharge is observed
when the frequency and potential are pushed to the extreme limit...to
perform the experiment...only two small spheres...or sharp-edged metal
discs [connected to the terminals of the bipolar coil] no more than a few
cm. in diameter should be exposed to air...It occurs under these
conditions that misty white streamers break forth from the edges of the
discs and spread out phantom-like into space." I actually tried to
reproduce this effect with a conventional, monopolar OBIT-powered coil I
built a few years ago, but could not see anything comparable to the
description. That's very interesting that you have seen it. Perhaps
someone else on the list knows about the "phantom streams"?? While you
describe your setup pretty well, it might have been easier to remember
the details if you had just seen the effects rather than waiting till now
to bring it up.
-Carl Willis