A Gem of a Gap

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Original poster: "davep by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <davep-at-quik-dot-com>

Tesla list wrote:

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

> Hi All...
 
> while in my thinking mode, I thought of an idea...  what item/object is
> extremely resistant to the most harsh enviromentally distructive nature
> one can think of?  Diamonds come to mind... but since diamonds are too >
expensive,

	...and they are insulators...
	(At One Point they were toying with highperformance chips
	built on diamond substrates, for cooling AND electrical
	insulation.  Dunno what ever happened to THAT idea...)

> what about Cubic Zirconias??? they are cheap, plentiful, and
> available.

	Are they conductors?
	Mostly, crystals, i think, are insulators.
	The 'locked in' structure tends to leave no electrons
	for conduction.  (i think?)

....
 
> they are conductive...  they can handle extreme amounts of heat....

	There is 'handle' and 'handle'.  Do they conduct it away
	well?
 
> what do yall think???   any gemologist out there with a plausable
> explination why they wont work???

	I yield to someone who knows more than i.

	(Tesla Trivia:
	Earlyish (pre Colorado Springs) Tesla experimented with
	discharges from the HV end of coil systems onto/thru 'gems'.
	My impression is he was trying to develop an HV powered
	'lightbulb' by finding a substance which would heat up
	to emit light AND survive for a long time.  cf Experiments
	with Alternate Currents...  Probably also some info elsewhere,
	maybe one of the patents.)

	best
	dwp