Re: health question

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: DRIEBEN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Mike,

Oops, me open mouth, insert foot :^) For some reason,
I was mentally equating "torrs" to "millitorrs"! I think
we agree that it requires a very hard vacuum to generate
significant hard x-rays of several hundred kEVs and that's
what I was trying to say. Of course the Marx generator or
natural lightning is in another catagory and as you say, it
would apear that high POWER (not necessarily high ENERGY)
discharges seem to be able to generate some x-rays, even
at STP. Of course with lightning events in the upper levels
of the atmosphere, the discharges are occuring in at least
a partial vacuum.


David Rieben

----- Original Message -----
From: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Friday, February 3, 2006 6:08 pm
Subject: Re: health question

> Original poster: "Mike" <induction@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Hi David,
>                I agree on the O3 part of your answer but you can
> hardly describe a few Torr as a hard vacuum, consider that a good
> mechanical pump by itself can do from 5 to 1 Millitorr, then you
> go
> to the diffusion stage and then to the Ion pump stage.
> What you usually need is a lot more vacuum than you describe,
> under
> usual man-generated voltages.
> In recent reports of Gamma rays being detected by Earth orbiting
> satellites from high altitude lightning exchanges in our
> atmosphere,
> some study in air was done about X-ray and Gamma Ray from our high
> voltage toys.
> What was found is that regardless of size (such as the large VDG
> system at the Boston Museum of Science) or some really big Tesla
> coils, these did NOT make gamma or x-rays, perhaps because the
> discharge path is more slowly built up.
> But It WAS found that the discharges from big Marx generators did
> cause detectable gamma and x-rays, this happening at sea level
> pressures.If you look at the bang power of a TC and that of a
> Marx, per strike
> event, the Marx has lots more, though it can not fire as quickly
> for
> a big cap bank. So the Marx has more in common with lightning
> events,
> some of which also make high energy radiation.
> What I find interesting is that while the Tesla coil does not make
> them at sea level or 760 Torr, the Marx and lightning do.
> Could be an avalanche time issue.
> Maybe some with can crushers could place new rolls of film by the
> gap
> and develop it after a few tens of firings.
> To be a possible problem, it may have to be a large Marx bank, who
> knows.Likely what is measured is far less harmful than the sound
> of loud
> gap discharges, to the ears.
> Mike
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 5:41 PM
> Subject: Re: health question
>
>
> >Original poster: DRIEBEN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >Jay,
> >
> >These issues have been brought up in the past
> >more than once on this list. The ozone (O3) is
> >definitely an issue that must be addressed,
> >especially when operating indoors. O3 is toxic
> >in very minute concentrations and will cause
> >asthma-like wheezing, coughing and headaches
> >when one inhales it in concentrations that ex-
> >ceed the human toxic limit (Many of us know
> >this from first-hand experience). OTH, x-ray
> >production is usually not a big problem for
> >coilers as it takes HV excited electrons striking
> >a heavy metal target inside of a hard vacuum of
> >only a few torrs to produce significant le-
> >vels of hard, ionizing x-rays of energy levels
> >above a few 10s of kEVs. In other words, to
> >produce significant and dangerous levels of hard
> >x-rays requires more sophitication of equipment
> >than the average high voltage hobbiest has at
> >his disposal and they are certainly not going
> >to be produced "by accident".
> >
> >David Rieben
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
> >Date: Friday, February 3, 2006 1:06 pm
> >Subject: health question
> >
> > > Original poster: "Jay McDonald" <jay.mcdonald@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > >
> > >
> > > One more question - it is my understanding that in addition to
> > > powerful EM
> > > fields, high voltage devices also have a habit of putting out
> x-
> > > rays and a
> > > lot of ozone. Ozone can likely be dealt with by ventilation. What
> >does
> > > anyone know about the x-ray factor? Does anyone have a measuring
> > > device that
> > > they've used to measure their coil's output?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Jay McDonald
>
>
>