Re: water spark gaps

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

Original poster: "Metlicka Marc" <mystuffs-at-orwell-dot-net> 



Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Jim Lux" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>
>
>
> however, the maximum energy you could get out of recombining the
> dissociated water is no more than you put into it to dissociate it.   If
> most of that 5 joules per bang is going into the coil and into heat, very
> few millijoules are dissociating the water, and anyway, when that H2O2
> mixture is ignited, it just makes the same number of millijoules (as
> heat..).. The net result is the same as if the dissociation energy were
> directly turned into heat.  I suspect that the flame speed (if any) is low
> enough that the energy rate (power) of the recombination is much lower than
> the energy rate of the thermal heating due to the arc.

this makes good sense, but aren't we dealing with not only a 5 joule pulse, but
an oscillation of, say, 100khz +\- for each bang? in a dc discharge things are
rather straight forward, anode to cathode, but with the hf swing, i would think
things get complicated.

>
>
> Now.. if you put the gap in a big container, ran HV into and didn't let it
> breakdown, or did, but most of the time it wasn't breaking down, but was
> dissociating the water, and accumulating H2/O2 mix in the container, you
> could get some excitement...

wouldn't the rapid change of anode to cathode of each electrode cause a
"pocket"
of both H2/O2 to build at each electrode point to build in a very quick time? i
think i read a formula for electrolysis of water into it's atoms, based on
voltage/curent/time and maybe conductivity? at a set frequency, one should be
able to calculate the amount of H2/O2 liberated in the time of first notch
quench. i'm not sure how you could figure how much of the surrounding water
would
be turned to steam by the heat of recombination, (or how much expansion, or
pressure?)

> nothing that venting the container wouldn't
> fix, though..
> You'd also see bubbles on the spark gap electrodes...

pure speculation, of coarse.

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