RE: Quarter Wavelength Frequency

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

Original poster: "David Thomson" <dwt-at-volantis-dot-org> 

Hi Shaun,

Original poster: Shaun Epp <scepp-at-shaw.ca>
 > Where did you get the idea that photons are flowing???

Terry stated:
  > The coil's turns are all magnetically linked to each other!!
  >
  > So the current at the top of the coil doe not have to wait for the
  > electrons to travel the length of the wire, but only the length of the
  > coil!!  The effects of primary base current are magnetically linked to
the
  > top of the coil through a distance of only say 3 feet...  The coil is not
a
  > 1000 foot long antenna.  It is a close wound inductor with the all the
  > turns closely magnetically linked....
  >
  > That simply is the "killer" the of wire length/quarter wave stuff...

The only way to magnetically link the coils is via photons, the carrier of
electromagnetism*.

Of course I don't mean the photons are flowing as in DC, they are following
the AC current of the electrons that generate them.  And "flowing" isn't
even correct as we all know electrons don't actually flow.  Don't get hung
up on the poetic license.

The fact is, if the current is not "flowing" the full quarter wavelength,
and it is being transferred magnetically between the coils, then the current
must be "flowing" via photons through the photoelectric effect.

 > The flow across the length of the coil is magnetic flux and it will induce
current into the coil.

To begin with, magnetic flux is a unit, not a "thing".  Second, even if you
want to look at the problem poetically in terms of "things" called magnetic
flux, the magnetic flux is moving between the wires faster than the
electrons are moving through the wire.  There wouldn't be any magnetic flux
between the wires if there weren't any electrons moving through the wires
from the coils below.  So even though the current is inducing magnetic flux,
and the magnetic flux is further inducing current in subsequent coils, the
carrier of the magnetic flux is photons* and they must be arriving at the
other end of the coil before the electrons get there, thus inducing a
secondary current in the wire before the electrons arrive.

 > A large amount of induced current close to the base,
because that is where the primary coil is.

I doubt seriously that the current is determined by the location of the
primary coil, although the two conditions do coincide.  It would appear
there must be a quantum explanation involving electrons and photons for the
higher current being stronger nearer the primary coil and the higher
potential being stronger nearer the top capacitance.  As far as I know, the
position of a primary coil is not a quantum cause.

 > A smaller amount of current will
be induced into the upper portion of the secondary coil because less
magnetic flux will cut through it there.

I doubt this is an accurate accounting of the facts, simply because magnetic
flux doesn't do anything.  Magnetic flux is merely a unit that describes a
particular behavior of electrons and photons.  The protons and neutrons are
fixed within the atoms, so they are not the cause.  If something is
happening in the Tesla coil, it has to be because electrons and/or photons
are doing it.  There are no other quanta that could be causing the
mechanics.  Yes, we can measure the magnetic flux, magnetic field, current,
potential, frequency, etc, but it is always the electrons and photons that
causes these behaviors.

So I'm back to my original question, is there an equation that quantifies
the resonant frequency in terms of the actions of the electrons and photons?
And I'll state again, if the quarterwave is not the sole determinant of the
resonant frequency because photons are carrying magnetic flux to the other
end of the coil before the primary coil induced electrons get there, then
photons must be influencing the resonant frequency of the coil via RF.
There must be a way to quantify this and get a perfectly accurate resonant
frequency formula for a Tesla coil.

Dave

* Reference:  "The most familiar boson is the photon, the carrier of the
electromagnetic force. The photon may be thought of as a quantum of light,
an expression of the electromagnetic field." John Huth, "High-Energy
Physics: The Road Ahead," American Scientist July-Aug. 1994, Questia, 12
July 2004 <http://www.questia-dot-com/>.