RE: Spark Leader? was Re: Can I touch my Tesla ?

["Basura, Brian" <brian.basura-at-unistudios-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Bart/all,

I have a picture of a spark leader somewhere (I'll try and find it). 

To see and photograph it yourself take a grounded rod and attach a pointed
wire to it. Slowly turn up the power on your coil and you will see the
leader forming. 

I also tape a clear light bulb to the ground rod. The leader will start
inside the bulb much sooner than with just the point. As power is increased
the leader will grow from the outside surface of the glass and head towards
the toroid.

Regards,
Brian B. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2000 11:38 AM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Spark Leader? was Re: Can I touch my Tesla ?


Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson" <tesla123-at-pacbell-dot-net> 

Hi Malcolm, All, 

<snip>
Have
you ever seen a spark leader coming from objects to a TC? It would be
interesting to see a photo of a TC spark leader. Anyone ever captured one on
film? I would expect these to exist even for our coils. 

Bart 

Tesla list wrote: 
>
> Original poster: "Malcolm Watts" <M.J.Watts-at-massey.ac.nz> 
>
> Hi Chris, 
>
> On 25 Jul 00, at 12:01, Tesla list wrote: 
>
> > Original poster: "Christopher Boden" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com> 
> > 
> > Watch closely (preferably in total darkness) and you will see 
> > streamers eminateing FROM the tips of the tree if it's close 
> > enough. 
> > 
> > Could someone explain this phenomena? It happens with held objects as
well.
>
>
> The obvious question is why shouldn't it happen? There is a 
> strong electric field in the vicinity which induces opposite 
> charge on surrounding objects and the concentration of charge 
> on those objects will be at the most pointed parts (for want 
> of better wording). This is observed routinely in 
> thunderstorms. Obviously the induction is AC in the case of a 
> Tesla Coil but the situation is otherwise similar. I see this 
> all the time when running coils. As a streamer from the coil 
> approaches one of these points the emission from the point 
> will increase which wil encourage the TC streamer to connect 
> with the object. 
>
> Regards, 
> Malcolm 
> <snip>