RE: why TC Different from others?

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

Original poster: "Mitchell Hilger by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <mitchh-at-ictiokc-dot-com>

Josh,

I waited to read other posts before attempting one of my own
description.  The best image I have derived comes from a book I
purchased from www.allelectronics-dot-com "Tesla Coil" by George Trinkaus.
He has reviewed old patents of Tesla and I think describes it best in
the following way: (my paraphrased version)

Think of the ringing tank circuit as a person swinging on a swing.  The
primary does not push on every swing but only on some, let's say every
100 swings.  The primary introduces energy to help the secondary
ringing.  Now you ask, using this analogy not too many swings will
continue for 100 times between pushes.  This is where the beauty of the
Tesla coil is revealed.  It is because of resonance (ringing).
Resonance can be described in very technical ways as electronics goes.
But again, let's use an analogy that you can touch and visualize.  Have
you ever run your slightly damp finger over the rim of a wine glass and
caused it to sound at a very loud volume?  This is resonance at its
simplest mechanical form!  All the components of the wine glass (and
translate this also of the Tesla coil secondary circuit) are moving at a
harmonious rhythm operating at their peak efficiency.  Tesla believed
that by using this resonance that you could achieve extra free energy
given to the system by the system.  He developed coils that used a long
antenna that lit 10,000 watts of lights with a much less input power
into the coils primary.  He used this setup to light his lab.

Hope this helps!

Mitchell Hilger
Innovative Computing Technologies, Inc.