Re: Tesla Diodes home made?

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Fucian-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 4/25/02 2:23:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

<< Matt:  At low voltage the copper oxide (burnt penny) diode works. At high
 voltage the point / cup rectifier works well. I use sharpened tungsten
 welding rods , sharpened with a long taper like a needle, and a 1/2 weather
 sphere or 1/2 toilet bowl float for the cup. Remove all sharp edges and
 round the outer edge of the cup with a round rod like a screw driver shank.
     Robert  H
  >>

So for high voltage~4in arcs+, the point cup wworks?How exactly does this 
work?

Matt