Christmas Tree Musings

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

Original poster: "S & J Young by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <youngs-at-konnections-dot-net>

Coilers,

As we gaze upon a Christmas tree, we notice the lights reflecting off the
shiny round ornaments, and of course this elucidates many thoughts.  Some of
you will put the shiny balls and the lights together and say "aha - reminds
me of ball lightning!"  This will make you think of Robert Golka who
constructed a replica of one of Tesla's large coils and tried to duplicate
the creation of ball lightning as allegedly observed by old Nicholas
himself.  Then you will find yourself wondering, as I did, what ever
happened to Golka and what is he doing these days to pursue the creation of
plasma spheres - ball lightning?

I searched the web and found some fascinating accounts of his experiments in
the 80s, but found nothing recent.  Do any of you know of any recent work by
Golka or others?

For those who want a bit of diversion, here are some interesting tidbits and
some sites to visit:

"Ball lightning:
As a phenomenon, lightning blasts its attention upon us, but there is more
to lightning than just the intense flash and the ear-resonating noise that
is all too familiar. There is also ball lightning, known for a century, seen
by very few, and only recently produced in the laboratory by Robert Golka,
Jr.
I first heard of ball lightning about 50 years ago. It occurs in many
varieties, yet has been mystifying scientists since it couldn't be
reproduced.
It has been described as a self sustaining light-emitting plasma-like ball
that moves along for seconds before disappearing with a bang. Lightning
balls have been reported to last as long as 30 s on submarines during WW II,
where high current switches are employed to transfer power between
batteries, or between batteries and generators. It is not St. Elmo's fire, a
discharge-like electrical phenomenon that is encountered on ships and
aircraft during atmospheric conditions that generate high electric
potentials.
Golka uses a 150-kW transformer capable of providing 10,000 A at 15-V 60
cycles; thick 1-in. stranded wire leading into a plastic tank with water;
and a 1/4-in. thick 4 ¥ 6-in. aluminum plate. The wire and plate are short
circuited about 1/4 in. below the surface of the water and this produces 1/4
in. dia. fireballs. They sizzle and hiss and skim around on the surface,
occasionally taking to the air and leaving spiraling smoke trails that
suggest the balls are spinning.
Golka has seen these fireballs dance onto the floor and he reports them hot
to the touch. Their color is white with an aluminum electrode and yellow
with iron.
There is no theory for ball lightning, although in Golka's case his
fireballs consume the aluminum and may obtain their energy from the burning
of the metal.
Those readers who have witnessed ball lightning are invited to send me a
paragraph about their experience.
Contacts:
Igor Alexeff, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Univ. of Tennessee,
Knoxville, TN 37996.
Robert Golka Jr., Phone: 508/586-8033.
Richard Weiss, c/o SPIE, P.O. Box 10, Bellingham, WA 98227-0010.
Prof. Richard J. Weiss reports monthly on research in universities,
industry, and government."

Pictures of Golka's tesla coil in action in a large hanger at Wendover, Utah
http://home1.gte-dot-net/res07cmo/hv/Golka/golka.htm

First hand accounts of ball lightning observations
http://www.amasci-dot-com/weird/unusual/bl.html

Project Tesla

"The objectives of Project Tesla are divided into three areas of
investigation. 1. Demonstration that the Schumann Cavity can be resonated
with an open air, vertical dipole antenna; 2. Measurement of power insertion
losses; 3. Measurement of power retrieval losses, locally and at a distance.
Methods A full size, 51 foot diameter, air core, radio frequency resonating
coil and a unique 130 foot tower, insulated 30 feet above ground, have been
constructed and are operational at an elevation of approximately 11,000
feet. This system was originally built by Robert Golka in 1973- 1974 and
used until 1982 by the United States Air Force at Wendover AFB in Wendover,
Utah. The USAF used the coil for simulating natural lightning for testing
and hardening fighter aircraft. The system has a capacity of over 600
kilowatts. The coil, which is the largest part of the system, has already
been built, tested, and is operational."

Read the rest of this very interesting account here:
http://www.geocities-dot-com/ResearchTriangle/Lab/3537/WIRELESS.html

And although not directly related, here is some interesting reading about
how coiling has progressed over the years, written by the legendary Richard
Hull.  http://f3wm.free.fr/tesla/magnifier.html

Merry Christmas,
--Steve