Strange Spark Behavior

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Strange Spark Behavior
From: "Gregory R. Hunter" <ghunter-at-accucomm-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 18:49:54 -0700
Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme

Dear List,

I've made an observation of very unusual spark behavior.  Recently I found
an old 12 inch diameter globe of the Earth at a junk sale for $1.25.  In
typical coiler fashion, I instantly thought of an application for it.  Back
at my garage, I peeled back a bit of the cardboard map covering to see if
the thing was a metal sphere--no luck.  Undeterred, I covered the globe
with heavy duty aluminum foil stuck in place with spray glue.  I covered
some of the foil seams with Al tape and rubbed the whole thing down with
the back of a spoon.  I eventually achieved a very smooth, almost
chrome-like surface.  Cool.

I popped off my 3" x 14" toroid and put the sphere in it's place on my 4" x
24" 1KW coil.  After retuning, I got 1 to 3 branching sparks up to maybe 24
inches long--about the same as the toroid.  However, after 20 seconds or so
something bizarre happened.  The frantic, multi-branched sparks all slowly
coalesced into a single, un-branched, fat, fuzzy, tendril reaching straight
upward.  It grew slowly toward the ceiling while waving gently, like a
cobra under the spell of a snake charmer.  This was a bit alarming, as I
only have an 8' foot ceiling with some electrical wiring up there.  After a
few seconds, the long, glowing tendril collapsed back into chaotic,
multi-branched sparks again.  I was treated to a repeat performance of the
"light serpent" effect of a few seconds duration every 30 seconds or so.

This is pretty weird business folks.  I am going to try to capture this
stunning visual effect on film and video tape.  It's the coolest thing I've
ever seen a Tesla coil do.  Anyone else ever observed this sort of peculiar
behavior?

Best Regards,

Greg Hunter
Cochran, Georgia