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Re: observations (pulsed sparks)...why??

Hi John,
   As I said, as I turn up the variac, the discharges get faster and longer.
The first breakout is around 6 - 8 inches long, with a fairly loud snap. At
full variac voltage -120 V- the streamers are from 20 to 24 inches long.
They are not always continuous, but sometimes a streamer will start and work
it's way around the toroid and continue for 6 to 10 seconds. The only tesla
coil I have ever seen run live is my own, so I can,t compare it to others.
It's possible my toroid takes time to reach capacity at lower primary
voltages and breaks out faster as the primary voltage increases.
George
----- Original Message -----
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: observations (pulsed sparks)...why??


> Original Poster: FutureT-at-aol-dot-com
>
> In a message dated 99-10-27 07:18:23 EDT, you write:
>
> << Original Poster: "afa2fg" <afa2fg-at-email.msn-dot-com>
>
> > Hi John,
>  >   The gap fires continually. As I increase the voltage, the gap can be
> > heard to increase in spark discharge freq.  My toroid is probably a
little
> > too large. ( 4 X 16 ) Dryer duct covered w/ aluminum foil.
> > George >>
>
> George,
>
> RE: (gap fires steadily, toroid sparks break out once per second)
>
> I guess the spark can barely break out, and the ionization has to
> build up for awhile in the air before it can support a streamer.  I'm not
> sure why it would then stop though, and give this pulsing effect.  When
> the sparks do not break out, the gaps would tend to heat up and fire
> at a lower voltage, which would reduce the output voltage even more,
> so it's surprising to me that it then breaks out again at all.  There must
> be something happening here that I don't understand.  It just happens
> that I've never seen this effect on my coils, so I've never had the
> opportunity to investigate it.  Maybe someone has explored this or has
> some ideas of what might cause it?  When the sparks do break out,
> once per second, are they long, or just a little flicker?
>
> Cheers,
> John Freau
>
>