Re: 1994 article

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Chris Rutherford" <chris1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Terry,

I must admit, having finally built  a proper Tesla coil after about 
10 years of musing, and not really knowing how a TC worked I feel a 
lot better about the whole subject.  More practical 
scientific/engineering problems now occupy my mind such as how hard 
can I push my NST before the insulation breaks down, and what would 
happen if I put them in series etc.  - Classical electrical theory if 
you like, which I have a strong background in through years of school.

I still find Teslas notes fascinating, and collectively there is 
about 5-6 pages in CSN that talk about fireballs, all in the first 
hand.- But that is for another thread.

Thanks

Chris R

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 3:14 AM
Subject: Re: 1994 article


> Original poster: Terry Fritz <vardin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> At 06:21 PM 8/6/2005, you wrote:
>
> > On another note, hopefully Terry will let it go as it is just my 
> > opinion, but has anyone wondered why there is quite so much 
> > pseudoscience associated with Tesla, and where all of this rubbish 
> > comes from and why?
>
> Along with the other folks ideas on this, I think a lot of it has to 
> do with "frustration" at not being able to really understand a lot 
> of Tesla's work for such a long time....
>
> 30 years ago, surprisingly little was known about Tesla coils and 
> how they worked.  The information that was available was full of 
> wild BS and there was really not "another" explanation available. 
> Even though Tesla coils have been around for say 110 years, the age 
> of much of the detailed theory can be counted on one hand and almost 
> all of it on two...  I cannot recall how many hundreds of times I 
> have heard that Tesla coils cannot be explained by electrical 
> engineers...  We all remember the often sited quote "Electrical 
> Engineering handbooks state that the design of Tesla coils is 
> empirical"... and that was from one of the very best books of the 
> era...  Heeeey, were are all those nay sayers "now"!?  >:o))
>
> So really, for such a long time, "pseudoscience" was the "only" 
> explanation.  As coiling became more popular and many folks could 
> join together with the help of say the TCBA news and the Internet, 
> we could finally work the complex details with a LOT(!!) of very hard work.
>
> Now, we pull out our old 80's era "Tesla coil" + "secrets" + 
> "explained" (pick the title using these words...) books and laugh at 
> their stupidity...  But it sure was not silly back then!!!  It was 
> like gospel...  :-(
>
> Many "stretched" the "few" facts to raise a little extra money... As 
> a young gullable lad of the day, I am "still" hunting them down 
> :o))  I still have all the receipts too!!!
>
> "Enigma Fantastique" - W. Gordon Allen, Ph.D.  Presents projections, 
> philosophies and prophesies of Dr. Nikola Tesla....  UFO's, alien 
> intelligences, Stendek encounters  $12.00..........  (Ph.D, and 
> can't spell fantastic...  I should have known...)  I think I used it 
> to start a camp fire once...
>
> T.E. Bearden, Lt. Col., Ret....  Where is he anyway...  I want my 
> money back!!!
>
> As a famous conservative columnist said recently 'Well, I think 
> that's bull---- and I hate that"............
>
> "I forgive" the Corums since they were really 'trying" and did "help" :-)))
>
>
> But, with a lot of work, we are putting the silly science away now 
> and bringing Tesla coiling into almost a main stream science.  Sort 
> of sad that we can't claim it's all "magic" anymore ;-)
>
> I was demonstrating my DRSSTC and it's tricks to some old timers of 
> the 80's era...   They just stared at it with that stunned 
> "deer-in-the-headlights" look....  "Even "I"" was tempted and wished 
> I had another DRSSTC controller box hidden with just a pyramid and 
> magic crystals inside it to try and convince them that it was 
> "simply" tapping Tesla's world energy vortex >:o))))  It would have 
> been "just too easy" to do the "box switch" while looking for 
> screwdrivers in the confusion....  Sadly, they probably would have 
> fallen for it........
>
> But I showed them the "real" insides and explained the parts and 
> operation.  They did not really "get it" but they certainly 
> understood there was "no magic at all" in there...  Just a bunch of 
> plain circuits and somebody "figured it out"...  So "I" did "not" 
> continue the pseudoscience tradition, but I "understand" it ;-)))
>
> Tesla coiling today is not shrouded in much "magical mystery" 
> stuff...  As I though many years ago, we did "loose something".  But 
> I think "we are all better now"!  And our little Tesla coils can 
> still whoop the bully down the block with an ignition coil out of 
> his dad's Chevy ;-))))
>
> Cheers,
>
>         Terry