Re: Anyone ever successful with Ball Lightning generation here. . . .

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

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>

>
> About 20 years ago Mike Mideke (never active in this group) send me
> some pictures of discharges from a small OBIT-powered TC.  He put a
> small piece of rubber insulation on the top terminal (not a toroid in
> those days) and set fire to it.  Some interesting "ball like things"
> were visible, but neither of us considered them as examples of the balls
> which Tesla described. I'm convinced that if he did get them, it was in
> connection with heavy smoke of some kind.
>
> I think I remember reading reports here from other guys who did
> something similar.  It would be simple to try if one could put up with
> the lingering odor.
>

Big toroid on the TC, small rubber tire, small amount of kerosine or diesel
fuel in tire,  light on fire... lots o'carbon particles in the smoke...

In "show biz" we used to make copious black smoke (implying lots of soot) by
burning naphthalene in a mix of gasoline and diesel.  Don't breathe the
fumes!  Any real carbon rich compound will work, but naphthalene is cheap in
large quantities. (check the CRC handbook, and you find that anthracene is
even better, but, oops, carcinogenic...)

Benzoyl Peroxide also makes a very nice sooty flame, but has thermal
stability problems.