RE: Cyclotron effect

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

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-compaq-dot-com>

IMHO, the mechanisms under discussion for the observed spiral streamers may
be making this way more complex than what is likely.

Consider the classic ion motor - an S-shaped wire atop the top load that
produces airflow, hence thrust, from the point of discharge.  Any detached
streamers will also generate such airflow.  The streamer is quite likely to
be affected and moved by such airflow.  In most cases such movement will be
random and chaotic, and the thrust produced will also be chaotic.
Occasionally we have seen stable, vertical streamers, and the thrust would
be unidirectional.  Aerodynamic vortices are produced in the wake of planes
and cars.  I would be surprised if a similar effect does not occur as a
result of ionic thrust, and such vortices could displace streamers into the
observed shapes.

Gary Lau
MA, USA

Original poster: "Paul Nicholson by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <paul-at-abelian.demon.co.uk>

If a beam of charged particles was launched upwards from the center
of the toroid, they would continue straight up, unaffected by
the B field (since beam v x B is zero).

But at any angle from the vertical they would form themselves into
a spiral (ish) path since v x B is now generally non-zero. If they
emerged horizontally from the toroid, they would curve either
upwards or downwards depending on the sign of their charge and the
B field polarity (assuming here that E is roughly radial from the
topload).

Could this cyclotron mechanism also affect the path over which a
streamer forms?  Do the electrons in the leaders see a sufficient
v x B force to make a noticeable difference to their path?

Can this account for the observed spiral discharges?

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