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Re: Arcs off the fingers and getting killed in the process...
Hi all,
I've been following this thread with much interest, particularly
as I have taken quite a few body shots from various coils
(deliberately). I think there is a very significant difference between
attracting sparks to oneself while standing in well insulated footwear
on a non conducting surface and letting the sparks emanate from
oneself while sitting atop a HV terminal, *especially* if sparks in the
latter case attach to some object. In the first case there is a degree
of impedance in the discharge path. In the second case ???
Some observations of shocks from coil secondary discharges:
- Low X, high C secondaries are the worst. Single shot mode can
be especially "shocking". Ever been zapped by a car ignition coil
operating at a few tens of mJ ?
- Attaching to sparks at a length which causes the streamers to
coalesce at one end seem to be the worst short of bright single
channel streamers taken at maximum length (rectification effects
going on).
- You can charge up to a significant DC potential by attracting max
length sparks from a normally operating coil (repetitive). Just
occasionally you are reminded of this when your potential exceeds
the insulation rating of your rubber soled shoes.
Finally and because this is all about safety, I was appalled several
years ago to see someone who will remain nameless experimenting
on video in bare feet. (/maximumcringe = on).
Regards,
Malcolm
Date forwarded: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 21:49:21 -0700
Date sent: Wed, 02 Feb 2000 19:41:36 -0700
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Arcs off the fingers and getting killed in the process...
Forwarded by: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> Original Poster: "bob golding" <yubba-at-clara-dot-net>
>
> Hi All,
> I totally agree with what John and Nick,and Terry have said on this. But
> lets get some prospective on this. I think, can;t be sure without looking
> it up, that something like 60volts ,and 5mA can kill, given the right
> circumstances. I have been fascinated with electricity from about five or
> six. I remember getting shocks off mains sockets and light fittings 2 or 3
> times I think before I realized it was a bad idea, I survived. When I was
> about 12 we had a guy from the local electricity board give a lecture at
> school. After showing us the size of insulators on 132Kv lines he then
> showed us some of the thinks they had pulled out of houses were people had
> died as a result of there own stupidity. Things like broken light bulbs
> that had had wires soldered on to them. fuses replaced by nails ,and lots
> of other horrors. I thought "how can anyone be so stupid" But then again I
> have seen some weird things done to cars as well. My point is electricity
> is dangerous in combination with ignorance, as are lots of other things,
> cars ,gas stoves, power tools. In order to make a Tesla coil you have to at
> least have some idea of what you are doing, or you might exit the gene pool
> early, before you get to the sparks stage. I think if you can get as far as
> working out how to get to this list, you are reasonably intelligent, and
> the type of questions people ask is a reasonable guide to whether they are
> going to get to the stage of being a danger to themselves. Of course there
> are always exceptions. I think the small child death was related to the
> father being drunk. He could have easily been behind the wheel of a car.
>
> cheers
> bob golding
> ----------
> > From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> > To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> > Subject: Re: Arcs off the fingers and getting killed in the process...
> > Date: 02 February 2000 18:51
> >
> > Original Poster: "Megavolt Nick" <tesla-at-fieldfamily.prontoserve.co.uk>
> >
> > Hi Terry,
> > I agree with you that higher power levels are much more
> > accessable than they were - I am probably the most extreme example of
> this,
> > I'm 14 and running 12kVA. I think one of the aspects of coiling we
> should
> > build on as part of this trend, which we will never be able to reverse
> > (unless we can get a pole pig 'licence' introduced...) is group coiling.
> > A guy in a shed with a pole pig won't have the safety of someone
> remembering
> > to kill the power when he doesn't and calling the ambulance when neither
> of
> > them do.
> > I think we are being forced this way as anyway, as you push up the power
> > venues get harder to find and you have to group together to arrange large
> > enough venues. Even so we should make a concious effort to have some
> fellow
> > coilers around when we're running at high power, the family cowering in
> the
> > corner can't recognise when we do something stupid because they don't
> know
> > what's stupid and what's not.
> >
> > I have never been tempted to try the arcs off fingers demo. If I ever
> needed
> > to do it I would personally only do so if i had a chain mail suit under
> my
> > clothes to prevent any current flowing through my body. I as far as
> > electric shocks go I'm living on borrowed time already so I don't feel
> any
> > need to increase my doseage.
> >
> > Regards
> > Nick Field
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>