Re: Jacobs ladders

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

Original poster: "Shaun R. Phelps by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <shaun-at-visorloop-dot-com>

Heat causes it to rise.  Once the arc has been formed, this is the most
attractive path for the electricity to take.  Because hot air rises, the arc
does too.  As soon as the width becomes too big and the electricity has a
better path to follow (path of least resistance), it will fire again at the
bottom of the V and continue the cycle again.

6500V might be ok to start a small arc, but it won't get very big though.  I
have run one with as little as 7500V, but I have only managed to get 1.5"
arcs at the top of the V out of it.  Maybe a few mods might have made it
better.  I didn't waste time, I just went and used a bigger power supply ;-)

Shaun.




> This helps but how much power does one need? In my coil I have a
> transformer that puts out 6500 volts, would that be sufficent? I was also
> wondering if anyone could tell me what causes the arc to move up the
> elements? I have always wondered this.
>
> 73,Kcoion,"Ion-Boy"
>
>
>
>