safe sparks?

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

Original poster: "Laurence Davis by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <meknar-at-hotmail-dot-com>

short version: (longer, far more entertaining version below)
  installed a "slave" secondary coil on ground wire and tuned with various 
top loads to achieve best spark.  pulled upto 8"inch arcs with metal object. 
standing on concrete. mild muscle spasms in hand noticed.
anything over a foot would make me nervous. my coil is 12kv/120ma NST,
27nf plate cap, 950turns of 22awg on 4"pvc, pri tapped at 5th turn. vacuum 
static gap. am i safe under a foot of arc to fingers?

Larry.
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long version (more entertaining or pre-darwin award qualifying entry)
so a friend comes over with a small table top static gap coil that throws 
6-8inch arcs and shows me that he can touch the arcs coming off of it.  I, 
of course, had to try it.  a bit of a mild sting probably attributed to the 
fact the bottom end of the coil was attached to the 6kv/20ma NST.

sooo...  I get my coil.  take the vacuum gap way down to like 1/8" and run 
at 50% power.  connect my old secondary to the ground wire.  find a spare 
top load. put globe light bulb on top to help tuning. change it a few times 
till it looks nice.  NOW. touch globe. quickly. nothing. slower now. zap.  
less sting that a door knob zap.  turn up to 80%. zaps a bit more.  take off 
globe. pull an arc to my finger. bang. bit more of a zap, but startles me.  
now starting hunting for metal objects.  best one was a 1/2" open end wrench 
pointed at top load of "slave" coil.  it generated conrona, then pulls a 4" 
arc. long arcs make the fingers twitch a little. AND YES... i did have a 
partner with me. and NO i'm pretty sure he didn't know cpr.

my coil... 4x 12kv/30ma NST, 27nf plate cap, tapped at 5th turn. 4"inch pvc 
secondary w/950 turns of 22awg.

next day... removed a 300ft spool that my ground was connected THROUGH to my 
ground rods. thought the 300ft spool of rg6u might be inhibting the ground 
current or increasing my resonant freq.  but alas keep searching for THAT 
prob.

do the same setup (along with running across the street with an o-scope to 
see where the RF from my coil is getting into his TV.)
slave coil. back out gap to 3/8" - 1/2" or so.  did i mention best results 
achieved by disconnecting ground connection?  adjust tuning on "slave" coil. 
  now pulling 8inch arcs or more with wrench. now able to ZAP friend with 
other hand.(only 1/16" arc). long arcs make forearm twitch. shorter arcs 
almost seem unnoticeable. arcs to wrench or fingers are thin like a bbq 
piezo igniter. maybe a bit thicker, but not much. hair on both arms standing 
up. monstrous headache from 2hrs of ozone night before plus 1hr of ozone the 
second day.

larry d.

_