Re: VTTC/SSTC Spark Appearance Comparison

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

Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

For what it's worth, sparks generated by an ordinary induction coil are
forked when the electrodes are separated as far as they will go and
still spark.  Decreasing the spacing a bit generates almost straight
lines, and decreasing it more straightens them so more.  I suspect this
is because that  the spark path becomes sufficiently ionized to guide
the discharge.

	This effect is very marked with my quadrac-driven GMHEI setup (two
doils with secondaries in series and primaries in parallel).  At maximum
spacing, of the order of 5.5".  When the spacing is reduced to 3" the
discharge is just one fat straight line.

Ed