Re: pressure or vac?

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Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>


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From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2001 11:04 AM
Subject: pressure or vac?


> Original poster: "ebyng by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
<ebyng-at-netlimit-dot-com>
>
> Well hello again..
> Reading once again, I found a couple refs to pressurived OR vacuum spark
> gaps..  Which one is it, or which one works the best??  Why?? Is it the
> resistance in air, or the action on the air around the gap, or what?

A true vacuum gap works quite well, and by a different mechanism than any
gap running in gas.  But, we're talking serious vacuum here (< 1 micron).
In general, the breakdown voltage for a given gap scales linearly with the
pressure... twice the pressure, twice the breakdown voltage. (A fancy name
is Paschen's law).  The quenching behavior is very different though, and
doesn't scale as nicely.


>
> Chris..
> I practically welded my jesus stick to my caps today.  I had to hacksaw
the
> copper off to get it free..
> Rrrrrrr.
> I'm using a BF resistor next time...
> :)
> ah, the smell of melted copper in the morning...
>
> Erik
>
> P.s.  Did I mention that ya'll TC fans are so trusting??
> I got an new NST sent to me on complete faith from someone I just met, and
> Its on a UPS truck before the check even hits the post box.  Other
> people/objects too!
> Makes me feel all warm and toasty inside..
> :)

By and large, I suspect that this is true of most people, and TC'ers are
just in the large mass.  The anomalies get a lot more attention, so you hear
about them.  Most people genuinely want to do the "right thing" (although,
there IS some variance about what exactly the "right thing" is.....)  I've
found that technically oriented hobby enthusiasts and engineers and
scientists tend to think similarly in this respect, and folks in a
profession or background that has more "moral elasticity" are the ones that
might be different, and, shall we say, more likely to disappoint you in your
expectations. (don't even get me started on entertainment industry types...)