Re: 'true" spark length was Re: Desktop Bipolar Coil

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

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

 > system or, to put it another way, a rather low output voltage/energy
 > storage ratio in the secondary. I dare say the result was also
 > dependent to a degree on the humidity content of the air at the time
 > (I recall it as being rather low).
 >

 >From a purely theoretical standpoint, I wouldn't expect humidity to have a
huge effect.  Humidity has a big effect on static electricity machines where
you depend on a very high surface resistivity because the charging current
is so low.  On a TC, though, you've got energy to burn, and corona is
probably a bigger loss source than leakage.