Re: arc length/secondary length and magnifier questions

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Tesla729-at-cs-dot-com>

In a message dated 8/31/02 11:03:47 AM Pacific Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
writes: 
>
> Hi, well my short coil is 1/3 the length of the streamers. You are finding
> out why Tesla coils are so much fun. The electricity goes where it wants to.
> That is a good reason not to draw arcs to a ground rod holding it in your
> hand. it might jump to you instead of ground. My first toroid is a pair of
> frying pans and one is tapered on the bottom so it tends to lift the arcs up
> away from the strike ring. a toroid tends to make arcs go out horizontally
> most of the time. Still after all this the electricity goes where it wants
> to go!. cul brian f.



Ni Brian, all,

Yep, been there done that back in my earlier coiling days. I once
had a coil that was throwing about 4 to 5 ft streamers and I was 
operating it in a small portable metal shed (8 x 8)! Not too smart,
I know. Anyway, I had a ~24" long metal tube that I grounded on
one end and I was holding it as a discharge wand to the output 
terminal of my coil. One of the streamers decided that my forearm
was a more attractive target than the near end of the grounded me-
tal tube :-O, even though the end of the metal tube was obviously 
closer to the discharge globe than my arm. Needless to say, it
smarted! Now-a-days, I've learned to play a little safer, espeacially
with a pole pig system!!

David Rieben