Re: Side-wise Vectors?????

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Mark L. Fergerson" <mfergerson1@xxxxxxx>

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: Terry Fritz <teslalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hi,
>
> Of course, EM theory is always right :o)
>
> I suspect that the powerful magnetic field is having zero effect on the 
streamers.
>
> Lest we make Karl Gauss mad :o)
>
> What we are seeing is probably electrostatic repulsion of like 
charges.  The metal coated magnet and the streamers have the same charge 
and thus they repel.
>
> I will test a similar size shape piece of aluminum to see if just the 
"conductor" is causing the repulsion of the streamers.
>
> I wrapped a nonmagnetic disk of about the same size with foil and tried it:
>
> http://hot-streamer.com/temp/PB210001.JPG
>
> Yep!!  The magnetic field is not causing the repulsion. It is just plain 
old electrostatics at work.

  Elegant!

  As you say, it looks purely electrostatic; the streamers are just trying 
to reach as far out of the topload's electrostatic field as possible, and 
the magnet/foiled disk just deforms the field asymmetrically.

<I missed a few posts; sorry if I repeat others' comments.>

  I can't help wondering if corkscrewing is due to a JxB interaction of 
some kind; either the streamer current with its own field or that of the 
coil. I can't recall offhand the expectable value for the magnetic field of 
a single streamer, but ISTM it and the coil's will be orders of magnitude 
weaker than that of the magnet.

  You mentioned earlier that the corkscrews appear to come in both handedness.

  Can you mount the magnet (within?) the topload so its field is axially 
aligned with the coil, putting a "DC bias" on the coil's magnetic field 
without deforming the topload's E field?

  The magnet's field will of course swamp out the coil's B field, and if 
streamer/coil effects dominate, the corkscrews should be all of the same 
handedness. If streamer self-interaction dominates, the corkscrews won't.

  OTOH IASTM the streamers are trying to follow the coil's magnetic lines 
of flux. I know that's probably a matter of visual pattern-matching, but is 
that all it is? Can you plug your coil into a field-drawing prog and see 
how close it is?

  If it's at all close, how do the rates of streamer growth and field 
reversal compare? Does the fact that the coil's field change with time 
influence/cause corkscrewing?

  Also, in your later post you mount your coil sideways and the streamers 
extend in roughly radial symmetry. ISTM the streamers are again simply 
trying to get as far away from the topload as possible, ignoring gravity 
since it's much weaker than the E field.

> Still waiting for the string theory guys to bust orthodox EM theory 
here  >:)

  Might need to beef up the coil's fields a tad...

> I wonder if the feathers on the streamers are just electrons being 
forced away from the main path by repulsion and they tend to form the cork 
screws due to complex 3D effects...  Might need some high level nuclear 3D 
real time modeling to figure that one out...

  Huh. I'd guess, figure out the main corkscrews first, then worry about 
the little fellers. ;>)

  Mark L. Fergerson