Re: explanation of sparks into air needed

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

Original poster: "Paul Nicholson" <paul-at-abelian.demon.co.uk> 

Jim wrote:

 > I'm looking for a good explanation of "where is the spark going",
 > when there's no explicit gap to jump.

You could start by saying - well, there *is* a gap to jump, it's
just very wide - maybe infinity.   But the spark doesn't know
that when it starts out!!   It just knows about the field
in its locality.  It develops along that field, more or less
following the field lines, until it reaches a point where the
field is no longer strong enough to support further growth.
At that point the spark realises it can't go any further
and it stalls.
--
Paul Nicholson
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