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Re: Terry's Test - Two Manifestations of Charge

Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmdq@xxxxxxxxxx>

Tesla list wrote:
Original poster: "David Thomson" <dwt@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 

 > It's well known since the XVIII century that breakdown
 > voltage is almost completely a function of the shape of the
 > terminals.
This almost sounds like knowledge.  But is it?  If they had the
means for measuring the potential across terminals 300 years ago,
why can't we do it just as easily today?  I'm kind of curious as
to which brand of voltmeter they used then.


Pitch ball electromers and electroscopes. It's easy to make
comparative measurements with these simple devices. Someone
could easily verify that a gap with small balls produces a
spark with less voltage than a gap with large balls. An could
also verify the effect of several possible influences. I
don't know if someone actually did it, but it would be trivial.

My understanding is
that It was 1796 when Allessandro Volta finally was able to
measure the weakest of potentials with his electrometer.  The
potentials were caused by bringing two dissimilar metals into
contact.  I somehow doubt that in four years that the knowledge
to quantify the potentials between two gaps, as we are doing now,
was developed.


There is no need of a condenser electroscope to measure, or at
least compare, spark voltages. Even a crude electroscope can
detect a few hundreds of volts.

As for the shape of the terminals affecting the potential, this
is also what I predicted.
 >From what I have seen so far, there is no quantifiable evidence
suggesting that there is only one manifestation of charge.  The
fact that I can quantify two distinct manifestations of charge,
and the fact that the data both supports and does not exclude the
possibility, is reason for me to continue with my pursuit.


Nothing new expected, after so many experiments.

 > A capacitive divider is relatively easy to implement and
calibrate.
Are you saying that we can connect a capacitor directly across
the gap, and then tee another capacitor to test equipment in
order to determine the relative potentials in the gaps?  So long
as we use the same values for both sides?


Yes. A high-voltage capacitor with small capacitance in series with
a large, low-voltage, capacitor. The instrument goes in parallel
with the large capacitor. A spark across the series association
produces a step in the electroscope, with amplitude proportional
to the potential across the gap just before the spark. Two high-
voltage capacitors, one at each side of the large capacitor, can
be used for measurements in a floating gap. One side of the large
capacitor shall be grounded, for a safe connection to an oscilloscope.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz