Re: How to explain what a Tesla coil is....

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

Original poster: "BunnyKiller by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bigfoo39-at-telocity-dot-com>



Tesla list wrote:

>Original poster: "Bob Bozarth by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<jbdetails-at-prodigy-dot-net>
>
>    Hi all, \
>    
>    This has been my biggest problem when I go up to my Parents house, or to
>visit my Grandmother. I try to explain, 
>
Big Snipperz....


Hi Bob...

explaining how a Tcoil works in its true form can be quite a challenge 
to yourself when dealing with those who dont have much experience with 
the field of electricity ( excuse the pun) ;)

as previously mentioned in another post, water in pipes is a good 
analogy...   voltage being the water pressure and amperage being the 
gallons per minute flow and the pipe size being similar to the needed 
wire size to handle the pressure/flow....   ( garden hose/fire hose 
 both have 60 psi but the fire hose will fill the bucket faster but if 
you put 500 psi in the extra strong reinforced garden hose and left the 
fire hose at 60 psi the garden hose will fill the bucket faster)) thus 
 10V ( psi) -at- 100A (GPM) needs large pipe dia.  ( a # 2 wire)   where 
50,000 psi (V) needs a thick walled pipe ( to hold the pressure ( think 
insulation here) )  but can still use a small inside diameter to get the 
water to its valve....  as to where both supplies will fill the bucket 
at the same rate...    this covers the supply issue....


as far as resonate rise ....    the swingset analogy is good ...  a 
little push each time when the swing is just starting to go away from 
you eventually adds up  to alot of swing energy...    but dont forget to 
tell them its being pushed 100,000 times a second :)  and the swing 
moves back that fast too....


and of course ...there is the streached out slinky analogy where a 
slinky is attached to the wall and the pulse you put into the slinky 
travels down the slinky hits the wall and returns to you and at the same 
exact moment the return pulse hits your hand and is in the process of 
going back to the wall you give it an extra push adding energy to the 
existing bounce thus the existing pulse has more energy now, and if you 
do this 100,000 times a second it will either break the wall ( create a 
streamer) or your hand ( blow up the cap :)  )



now Im confused  :)


Scot D