arc length/secondary length and magnifier questions

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

Original poster: "jimmy hynes by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <chunkyboy86-at-yahoo-dot-com>


how can a tesla coil make an arc that is longer than the distance between the
toroid and strike rail? i read that the coil nemesis could make 14 foot arcs
with a 48" tall secondary. i also saw that richard hulls magnifier could make
10 foot arcs when the extra coil is only 3"x12". i realize in the magnifier the
extra coil doesnt see all the voltage. if, as i've read, the overall coupling
is the same then it should see most of the voltage, so how can the extra coil
be so small and make such big arcs? what keeps the arc from taking the shorter
path to the strike rail? what limits how big of arcs you could get from a given
resonator? is it break down of the resonator or does it start arcing to the
strike rail?


JImmy



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