Re: very long sparks

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: very long sparks
From: "Dr. John W. Gudenas" <jgudenas-at-admin.aurora.edu> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)
Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2000 12:33:40 -0700
Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme
Mark
Brazelyan and Raizer have produced an excellent book which
I expect will take me quite a while to fully comprehend. This work
is devoted to its title "Spark Discharge". That particular picture is
quite incidental to the text, except to indicate that existing research
facilities can produce long sparks with surprising results.
( Get the book ) Twin towers built by GE at the 1939 Worlds
Fair produced 5mev each for a potential difference of 10mev
and delighted spectators with around 50' arcs. It is not proper
to equate the behavior of Marx or Fitch circuits with TC behavior.

The reference list in the back of Brazelyn is alone worth the price
of the book. No mystery, no doctored photo, just science.
My thanks to Bert Hickman for suggesting this work for my library.
If you want to understand spark discharge, this book is a must
have, however if your calculus is bad, the old professor suggests
that you brush up and get sparking before purchasing! (An expensive
book if it makes no sense)
Cheers
John W. G.

John W. Gudenas, Ph.D.                       Aurora University
Department Chair of Computational And Natural Sciences
347 S. Gladstone,  Aurora, IL 60506    Tel# 630-844-5539
-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Date: Saturday, January 08, 2000 6:24 AM
Subject: Re: very long sparks


>Original Poster: Mark Finnis <mefinnis-at-medicine.adelaide.edu.au>
>
>At 08:40  06/01/2000 -0700, Bert Hickman wrote:
>
>>Certainly! I've scanned in a jpeg of the picture and you can see it at
>>http://people.ce.mediaone-dot-net/bert-hickman/frames/longarc.htm
>
>Couple of comments:
>
>1.  Having taken a look at the discharge, what amazes me is the path taken.
>
>The discharge terminal at top of the building (you couldn't refer to
>something this size as a "coil") is of comparatively small dimension and
>the e-field should be such that the ground would have been a "better"
>target long before the transmission tower ? 100m away.
>
>Seems odd.  I bet if we built a coil to a scale of this and placed a
>grounded tower equidistant as per the photo we would be waiting 'till hell
>freezes over before the tower was hit.
>
>2.  I think it is hard to ascertain the true distance of this
>discharge.  Granted it is large (and I'd be bloody pleased if it were my
>coil !) but the perspective of the photo is "optimized" to make it look
>larger.  Look at the fence leading to the towers, they are in fact well in
>the distance and we don't see the actual tower hit (which appears to be
>back towards the viewer).
>
>3.  The other thing which is strange is some of the shadowing in the
>photo.  Seems to be lit from above ???   I would be interested to get an
>expert photographic opinion !
>
>Bert ...... I am just a little skeptical of this shot :-(
>
>What do you & others think ??
>
>Cheers
>
>Mark
>
>
>___________________________________________________________
>
>Mark Finnis Hm:  61  8  8431 2889
>Staff Specialist Wk:  61  8  8222 4000
>Intensive Care Unit Fax:  61  8  8223 6340
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>
>
>