I'm wondering about this gap and tuning issues. Am I finally *beginning* to understand?

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Garry Freemyer by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <garry-at-ndfc-dot-com>

I've been reading here quite a bit, and a lot of what is written here is WAY
over my head. The hardest part I think is getting the terms straight.
Usually, by the time my mind finally coughs up the definition of a term I am
reading, I've forgotten what was said about it. Then by the time I am done
reading it again, I've forgotten the definition and by the time I recall the
definition, I've forgotten what was said again. ;-)

So, I try to visualize it in my head and I was thinking about NST's. I seem
to remember that (Reason I say this is because I don't trust my memory any
farther than I can throw a fully loaded and operating washing machine) that
when you have alternating current that the voltage is like a sign wave,
going positive, then neutral at the point of reversal, and then negative.
There are peaks and valleys in the sine wave. I will rever to them both as
peaks.

So, I was thinking about how could a cap in a tesla circuit be charged when
the current is going negative and positive. I asked myself why it wasn't
canceling it all out and here is what I came up with. Someone tell me if I
am close?

Are these statments true or close?

The primary and the gap spacing in a tuned tesla coil is such that the gap
fires as near the PEAK voltage (Or is this current?) so as to discharge the
cap. The close to the peak the gap fires the better. When the charge is
reversed, the gap fires on the reverse peak. If the gap fires early, output
is reduced because the charge is drained before it can maximize, and if it
fires too late, output is reduced because some of the charge has been
canceled out by the opposite charge that is now flowing into the capacitor.
True?

The primary, acts as a kind of resistance to emf flow, halting it at the
right time (Quenching) and delaying the discharge to the right moment. True?

So, that's where we get the 120 breaks per minute because the gap fires on
the peaks that are double the alternating cycle of 60 cycles per second.
True?

Than a BPS of 60 would mean the gap discharges on the peaks of only the
upper or lower half of the sine wave or every other peak?

So, rotary gaps have the advantage of better control. AC would do best with
a sync gap and DC would work with either sync or assync?

I recall folks speaking about voltage ringup, would that be kind of like
where the relationship between the frequency and the inductance in the NST
is such that the current gives a shove to the next cycle kind of like a
person rocking back and forth on a swingset to get more swing (Amplitude).
Wow, this last one sounds a little far fetched to me. Take this one with
grain of salt if desired.

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So, after reading all your posts out there, am I finally getting some idea
of what ye all are saying or am I still in clueless canyon?

PS: Warning! If you reply in really technical terms. I probably won't
understand you. ;-)