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Getting Started (was Re: Arcs off the fingers... )
Hi Robert,
My first hint of a Tesla Coil came when I was about 8 and
read about a 1/2 wave horizontal model in a book on spark coils. It
was many years before I got around to building one. Much time and
wire was wasted at that stage in learning about tuning rules. I had no
idea then that sparks could reach many feet or come out white hot.
The description in the book was of "purplish sparks about 3 - 4"
long). The book came from a library and I have no idea who wrote it.
Regards,
Malcolm
> Original Poster: KRAMPF-at-aol-dot-com
>
> Hi Ralph,
>
> Since I don't think you have seen one of my presentations, I assume that you
> are basing your feelings on some program you have seen. I agree that
doing a
> demonstration like this just for the sake of wowing a crowd is not science
> education. On the other hand, there is a long history of using dramatic
> demonstrations to present science. Faraday, Franklin and even Tesla
> presented science for the public with a combination of astonishing
> demonstrations and scientific information. In 45 minutes, you can't hope to
> teach an entire course in the subject, but you can get across some of the
> basic concepts in a way that will stick in their memory.
>
> Programs similar to mine played a large part in my love of science. It
would
> be interesting to know how many people on the list got their first exposure
> to a tesla coil from a demonstration at school or a science museum. Has
> anyone even done a survey of list members to find out how they got into the
> hobby?
>
> Robert Krampf
> Science Education Company
> http://www.krampf-dot-com
> Get my Free Experiment of the Week by sending an e-mail to krampf-at-krampf-dot-com
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