Re: Statistics & spark length

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

Original poster: "Stephen Conner by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <steve-at-scopeboy-dot-com>

At 13:21 07/06/03 -0600, you wrote:
>Original poster: "Dan Reinders by way of Terry Fritz 
><teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <danreind-at-shaw.ca>
>
>
>So which one of these is, by convention, regarded as the maximum spark
>length?  There isn't a sharp demarcation, but rather a region of decreasing
>strike probabilities.

I have a couple of things to say about this. I noticed when building the 
OLTC that this zone is very small with it. In about 1/4" it goes from a 
continuous arc to no spark at all and in fact it might as well be a sharp 
demarcation. I assumed that this was because the bang energy was very stable.

My conventional DC coil is a bit less predictable and it's about 8" between 
no arc and continuous arc. It once did a massive freak arc that leapt about 
4 ft. but I have no photographic evidence. There probably ought to be a 
standard agreed on, like the maximum spark length is the one you can 
produce at least three times in a five minute run or something. Assuming of 
course your rig can run non-stop for five minutes without catching fire, 
which I doubt any of mine could.

Finally, remember the spark length depends on air density. It would be 
unfair to compare, say, Terry Fritz's efforts in the thin high-altitude air 
of Colorado, with Captain Corona in New Jersey. Where does John Freau live?

Steve C.