Re: Glass Sparks

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Original poster: Chris Rutherford <chris1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi Sabastian,

I also have experimented with glass, I used a stainless steal sphere as
a top load.  I stood a small piece of copper wire upright on top of the
sphere by twisting a loop in to the wire at the bottom to stand it on.
I then placed a glass jar over the top of the wire, and then stood
another piece of wire on top of the glass jar.  You will see the ark
jumping out the top of he bottom wire, in to the bottom/top of the glass
jar and in to the 2nd wire and then out in to the air.  Most
interesting.  I have considered the reasons for the strange happenings,
as the glass cant possible be conducting as it would break down first as
in salt water/glass capacitors.  I thing you must be right with your
capacitive model.

Thanks

Chris R


On Thu, 2005-11-24 at 19:09 -0700, Tesla list wrote:
> Original poster: "Sebastian Fischetti" <QuantumStrings@xxxxxxx>
>
> <?xml:namespace prefix="v" /><?xml:namespace prefix="o" />
> So I finished building my tesla coil a couple of days ago, and I've
> been having a blast experimenting with it and trying different
> toploads and stuff.  Among my many experiments I placed a piece of
> glass over the top of the toroid and used my grounded safety probe to
> generate a spark that went through the glass...well, it didn't
> actually go through; it created a web of sparks on either side of the
> glass that then produce a spark to my probe and to the toroid.  In
> trying to figure out how this worked, I hypothesized is that the
> glass acts as a dielectric to a capacitor in which in broken down air
> on either side of it (i.e. the web of sparks) acts as the
> electrodes.  I haven't researched this, but I just wanted to know
> what you guys thought?
>
> Also, does anyone have any other suggestions for stuff to try out
> with the coil?  I've placed almost anything I could get my hands on
> on the top of the coil, all with great effect, but more ideas would
> be appreciated! (and fun =)
>
> Thanks!
>