Re: flashover

["Herwig Roscher" <herwig.roscher-at-gmx.de> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Terry Fritz wrote to the list:
> High voltage RF is attracted to insulators due to the dielectric effects.

Terry,

Thank you for sharing your expert knowledge. Now I'm a little bit 
wiser.  ;-)

> Even though the PVC is in insulator it can still easily attract arcs.
Although air has a higher punch through voltage than PCV I 
obviously have seen one side of the medal only. The drawback is 
that insulators have a higher dielectric constant than air as well. 
This results in rf currents being able to compensate the a.m. 
positive effect. Correct?

- An observation: After having added a 5" PVC tube to my old 6" 
primary / 4" secondary configuration, the 5" shielding tube was hit 
from the primary. A carbon track (over 1" long) was generated on 
the outside of this tube not penetrating the material.

Regards,

Herwig