Re: Conformity magazine update

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

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

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> Bob scanned the recent letters from Conformity Magazine and I posted them at:
> 
> http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/conform1.jpg
> http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/conform2.jpg
> 
> These involve Garry's comments about touching streamers and such in
> response to an article that suggested that this was not real dangerous.
> 
> 99.999% of the time, touching streamers is not fatal.  However, that other
> 0.001% is a real "killer"!

	However, MOST of the time you can get burned where high-power streamers
strike your skin directly.  Furthermore, you can get some interesting
shocks if you hold something metallic in your hand and approach the coil
from the non-striking direction.  Plenty noticeable with the smallest
coils I have had, and gets worse as the power goes up.  Rectification? 
Certainly RF currents shouldn't give any such reaction from the nerves.

> The "skin effect" idea about tesla coil currents going safely over the
> surface of the skin is a myth.  Those currents tend to go through nerves
> and blood vessels but the nerves simply do not report the damage.  Ill
> effects have been noted from that, but the big danger is the primary arcing
> though and delivering lethal jolts.  

	Would think that solid [power] grounding of the secondary would give
lots of protection against primary to secondary arcs, unless there's
enough current available to burn open the secondary leads.  I have no
desire to determine this experimentally.

Ed