Re: water spark gaps

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Ed Phillips" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net> 

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "sundog" <sundog-at-timeship-dot-net>
> 
> Hi all,
> 
>  I have to concur here.  This phenonemon is known as "exploding
> water", something else to do with those big 'ole pulse caps you
> have hangin' around for your cancrushers! ;)  The pressure
> generated is truly insane, and potentially dangerous.  The more
> joules, the worse it gets.  An 11kj discharge into 10cc of water
> was *quite* impressive, and blasted the aluminum tube it was in
> apart.

	I used to work for Hughes Aircraft during the time they (actually it
was Hughes Helicopters) were building small helicopters in Culver City,
California.  Their production line used an amazing assortment of old and
new technology.  I used to wander down the line for amusement, and
remember one of the machines they used for forming fairly large aluminum
panels.  It was a tank of water with a female cavity in the bottom. A
sheet of aluminum was placed over the cavity, and a great big capacitor
bank discharged into a spark gap in the water.  This created a pressure
wave which then forced the aluminum into the die.  Think the process is
called hydroforming, but that may be a generic name.

	Never was able to get close enough to this gadget to observe the real
details of the capacitor bank or underwater spark, as it was a busy line
and the guys didn't really like strangers threading their way through
the equipment.  Bottom line is that, with high-energy sparks in water,
you can get some pretty sensational effects!

Ed