Re: NON-static shocks from unpowered secondary?

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

Original poster: "Malcolm Watts by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <m.j.watts-at-massey.ac.nz>

Hi all,

On 18 Feb 2002, at 21:17, Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br>
> 
> Tesla list wrote:
> > 
> > Original poster: "BunnyKiller by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
> <bigfoo39-at-telocity-dot-com>
> 
> > Many of us have also been nailed by the " unconnected" secondary and
> > have our own war stories. Thinking back on the "attack" I had, (
> > prompted by your email) just maybe , remotely possible, something to
> > think about,  I wonder if the body acts as a capacitor in conjunction
> > with the secondary for that brief instant we recieve the shock ( and
> > thats why it is so intence? and kinda like an AC feeling)  is it
> > possible that between us and the secondary combination we get an
> > oscilation for that microsecond of contact???
> 
> This is indeed very possible. The discharge that you feel is 
> essentially similar to the discharge of the "self-capacitance"
> of the coil. It can't be a quick electrostatic discharge, because
> the inductance of the coil holds back the current. An interesting
> experiment would be to observe the resulting waveforms:
> A suggestion: Insulate a coil and connect one of its terminals
> to a voltage source (can be low) through a large resistor. This
> is just to charge the "body capacitance" of the coil (about twice
> its self-capacitance). Connect an oscilloscope, with memory, to
> a small grounded capacitor (~100 pF) and observe the waveform
> when you connect the coil to the capacitor through a switch.
> Compare with what happens if you do the same with a large metal
> object with the size of the coil.
> 
> Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz

I've been post-operation bitten by my 10" coil a number of times. The 
charges appear to reside in the coil insulation and are highly 
localized. You can go back over the same spot several times and get a 
repeat dose. And they are sharp and quite painful. One day I must do 
this in dark after running the coil and see what visuals accompany 
the phenomenon.

Regards,
Malcolm
 
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