RE: I've lost my k. Can someone help me find it?

["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>

At 01:55 PM 9/26/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" 
><Gary.Lau-at-hp-dot-com>
>
>THANK YOU (please pardon my shouting) for performing and reporting on such
>a detailed experiment.  The alleged coupling "sweet spots" have long been
>suggested to theoretically be significant, but it's also been my
>observation that performance simply increases with increasing k until
>racing arcs occur.  Time to retire this to the "coiling myths" graveyard.
>Hey, there's an idea for a useful web page!
>
>Regards, Gary Lau



Implying then, that if you improve the insulation of the secondary, you can 
raise k.

I think that racing sparks indicate that the peak voltage on the secondary 
is rising too high, implying that the load from the developing streamers 
isn't enough to keep the voltage down, as charge flows into the 
topload.  If you had a bigger secondary, and better insulation, then the 
voltage can get higher, which should increase the current flow into the 
streamer (assuming it is limited by either R or L).

Higher k (without "bad effects" like racing sparks) implies faster power 
transfer to the streamer/spark, which has to be a net good, right?