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Re: Arcs off the fingers and getting killed in the process...
Tesla List wrote:
> So how do we try to convince people that Tesla coils can kill very easily
> in this new world... And how do we convince them that those old pictures
> of people arcing things of their fingers is really dangerous when it looks
> like so much fun...
I think the key is to be proactive in education. Teach the newcommers how
dangerous it really is, why it's dangerous, etc.. And make sure it's EASY to
find. No need to search the archives, just look here. We need to drive home
that even the output from the secondary is deadly and needs to be respected.
The discussion a while back where we decided that the energy travels through
the body rather than over it would be good to summarize. The safety FAQ from
pupman-dot-com also has some good info. I think most newcommers are quickly made
aware that the primary system is dangerous. There is a lot of info on that. We
should do everything we can to get the word out that secondary sparks are
dangerous too. They won't blow your arms off like a pig can, but they can kill
you.
I used to do the sparks off the fingers thing too. After learning more about HV
I no longer touch the sparks from my coils. We need to get people informed
before they build a coil. We probably can't catch them all, there are many
books that have plans that tell how to build a coil and say that it's ok to
touch the arcs, they aren't dangerous at all, etc.. But if it's all over the
place on people's websites, pupman, and anywhere else we can get it, we can
help those who come to us for help building a coil.
We should probably have some info on how to handle the arcs with as much safety
as possible too. I know it feels like handing a gun to someone without
training, but if they are going to handle a gun I'd rather have 5 minutes to
train them then nothing. It could save a life. I think we should consider
thinking about secondary sparks that way.
Travis