Re: Can't get a good bang

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

Original poster: FutureT-at-aol-dot-com 

In a message dated 5/21/04 10:38:39 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:

>modifications. Now the streamers can't be stretched much farther than they
>extend into the air by themselves. When the streamer contacts the wire it
>gets brighter but, won't stretch. I also have several more coming out from
>all around the bowl. Seems like they are  not attracted to the ground wire
>anymore. Any explanations for this?
>
>Steve Vance


Steve,

I think the answer to your question is as follows.

Previously the gap quenching was very poor, but when the sparks
hit a ground target, the quenching tended to improve greatly.
This is to be expected.  When sparks hit a ground, the energy is
sucked out more quickly and speeds up the quenching greatly.  When
the quenching improves, the tank cap has more time to charge and
it causes the breakrate to rise. Higher breakrates lead to longer
sparks for a given firing voltage.  Now with your modifications, you've
improved the general quenching, so when the sparks hit a grounded target the
quenching can't improve very much because it's pretty good already.
This limits spark growth compared to before.  Also, your breakrate
is probably higher than before even before the sparks hit a target.

John