Re: Does it matter which way i wind my secondary?

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

Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

> Really, your argument makes sense, and looking at a paper (1936)
> describing the big Roud Hill double Van de Graaff generator I see that
> the maximum voltage was higher at the negative terminal (2.7 MV x
> 2.4 MV), meaning that breakout was easier at the positive terminal.

	Anyone visiting Boston should make an effort to see the high-voltage
demonstration at the  Boston Museum of Science, where half of the Round
Hill generator is operated for the amazement of visitors.  Got a chance
to see it about a year ago, and it sure was worth the trouble to get
there.  Had quite an array of Tesla Coils running at the same time.

> > However, I seem to remember some empirical evidence that this was not
> > necessarily the case during some TC breakout voltage measurements. And,
> > I also seem to remember that the current measurements taken on Electrum
> > DID seem to support positive polarity as being preferred, but I'll have
> > to check back into the archives...

	Would be interested in seeing what the archives have to say!
 
> What I wrote initially was based on what is clearly observed in any
> bipolar electrostatic machine. A smaller ball in the positive terminal
> results in longer sparks. My interpretation, assuming identical voltages
> at both terminals, was that it's necessary to reduce the radius of
> curvature of the positive terminal to have breakout, with voltages that
> are not high enough to cause sparks between two balls of the size
> used in the negative side.
> I obtain longer sparks from a VDG with negative charge, to a small
> grounded ball. This is consistent with what I see in a bipolar machine.
> With positive charge, there is visible corona everywhere, but would
> this be due to easier breakout at the positive terminal, or easier
> breakdown at surrounding negatively charged objects, including air?
> Interpretations of what really happens get easily rather confuse.
> 

	Wonder if anyone has made any scientific interpretations?????  Must be
somewhat similar to the formation of lightning strokes.  

> Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz

Ed