Re: Newbie with questions...

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

Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br> 

Tesla list wrote:
 >
 > Original poster: The MCP <ejkeever-at-comcast-dot-net>

 > Also, after finding that the resonant frequency is around the 700-800 Khz
 > range (High enough to cause the skin effect in a human), I've consistently
 > drawn sparks about 3 to 3.5 inches long off it with my fingers.

I am sure that many will say the same, but...
The frequency is far from what would cause any kind of skin effect in a
human. The current flows through your blood vessels and nerves, after
burning a hole in your skin, and possibly causes internal sparks in
the joints of your fingers, causing burns that take months to heal.
You don't feel the current because your nervous system didn't react
fast enough. My small coils are enough to produce immediate black burns
in skin and internal damage in joints, as I could already verify...

 > and is there any
 > substitute for an earth ground?

Any large piece of metal with much greater distributed capacitance than
the terminal of the coil. I use a metal bucket, or a flat plate with
less
than 1 m^2. A counterpoise.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz