Re: Etesla6 math questions

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

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi Pete,

At 12:15 PM 2/4/2003 -0800, you wrote:
>Terry,
>       set the electric potential of the enclosing gaussian surface to zero
>volts.

No, the outer boundary of the room (actually a cylinder is at zero 
volts).  The "sphere" is just a imaginary surface I set up to take the 
measurements at.  It could be any shape surface, but a sphere is easy to do 
the calculations on.  I am basically saying I will measure the field 
strength on a 8 foot diameter ball.  But there is no real ball, it is just 
the definition of how I will define where I (the computer) will measure.

>Hmmm, zero volts, does that make sense? wouldn't zero volts have to
>be at "infinitely far away", not as up close as a sphere of radius maybe only
>twice or three times the TC height?

I can't use infinity.  I have to set the zero point a reasonable distance 
from the coil.  All that space is filled with points that need to be 
calculated so I want it big, but not too big, or it will take forever to 
calculate.  The size of a "room" the Tesla coil is in works very well.


> >
> > http://hot-streamer-dot-com/andrewb/models/models.htm
> >
>These are really great pics! The difference between voltage and E-field is
>something to ponder, I think Paul said the E-field is the gradient of the
>voltage - makes sense if you think about break down voltage for sparks is
>actually volts-per-meter not just volts.

I actually take the voltage of two points, one inside and one outside the 
sphere, and then divide by the distance to get volts/meter.



>thanks again,
>sorry to be asking so many dumb questions, I hope there are other readers
>that are appreciating the repies as much as I am,
>
>Pete Lawrence.
>



Cheers,

         Terry