Re: hi freq's and computers

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

Original poster: "Mike Harrison by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <mike-at-whitewing.co.uk>

On Thu, 24 Jul 2003 17:52:19 -0600, you wrote:

 >Original poster: "Bernie Crews by way of Terry Fritz 
<teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bern-at-flaccess-dot-com>
 >
 >Is it dangerous to have your computer in the same room as your experiments?
 >Does anyone know how far away do we need to keep our computers from a Tesla
 >coil?
 >
 >Thanks for the info.
 >
The risk of damage is hugely reduced if the computer (or other electronics) 
is switched off (in the
case of ATX supplies and other things with 'soft' mains switching, also 
unplugged).
This is because when switched on, it takes a much smaller amount of coupled 
energy to cause damage,
as the energy can cause latchup in semiconductor devices, then the device's 
power supply provides
the power to do the actual damage.

Disregarding extreme cases like direct strikes, the damage threshold of a 
switched-off devices will
be several orders of magnitude higher than one that is switched on.