Re: Streamer Behavior

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

Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <tesla123-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Hi Malcolm -

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Malcolm Watts by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <m.j.watts-at-massey.ac.nz>
>
> Greetings Bart,
>
> On 19 Dec 2001, at 8:12, Tesla list wrote:
>
> > Original poster: "Barton B. Anderson by way of Terry Fritz
> <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <tesla123-at-pacbell-dot-net>
>
> <snip>
> > Streamer length appears correlated directly to power AND how the point of
> > charge is built and released
> > at the toroid.
>
> After some experiments a while ago I came to the conclusion that
> buried in a strong power dependence there is a weak sparklength
> dependence on output voltage and (separately) charge availability at
> the terminal. In meeting John Freau's sparklength vs power forumla
> requirements there must be an optimum configuration to produce both
> these things in suitable quantities. That is my future angle of
> attack.

As you will see in a reply to Steve, I didn't realize 10kv was the voltage
at the point of breakout on
the first set of data. This correction causes both sets of data to match
(which is good). Regardless,
they both still follow a very dominate power function.

>     I remember a story from Richard Hull once on testing a coil. The
> nub of it was that at some power (about 6kW I think), he was seeing 2
> -3' streamers. With power increased by a single kW to about 7,
> "suddenly the 8-footers were there".
>
> Regards,
> Malcolm

Yes, I have experienced this and I expect others have as well. On my
retired 12.75" coil, sparks would
sputter around (yea, about 3 to 5 feet) and then with a wee bit more
current, take off producing those 8
footers. This occurred around the 12mH area on the ballast. Increasing
current had no further effects
except to increase sparklength with power until a breaker popped (others
have had different results).
But, there was definately a small change in the current that caused a big
change in the output sparks.

There is such a variety of interrelated functions occurring (from beyond
the tip of the spark formation
all the way back to the power factor variances) that it truely boggles the
mind! When you talked about a
higher voltage and seperate charge availability at the terminal, is the
higher voltage your talking
about a higher cap voltage?

Take care,
Bart