Re: secondary question

["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: "Steve Zeitler" <zeitler-at-verizon-dot-net>
 >
 > I have seen plenty of coils in person and pictures that produce arcs much
 > longer than the length of the secondary coil. What prevents to voltage from
 > the secondary from just arcing down it's own length? Its the shortest path.

The shape of the electric field around the terminal. It is maximum
at an almost horizontal direction around a toroidal terminal.
Streamers, that start a long arc in a Tesla coil, are very hot, and
tend to rise in the air.
Possible interaction with the intense magnetic field around the coil,
but this is more difficult to evaluate. Most of the magnetic field
is vertical around the coil, and tends to move an horizontal arc
to the sides, not up or down. The effect is probably smaller than the
others.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz