Re: Tesla's large pancake coil

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: William Beaty <billb@xxxxxxxxxx>

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006, Tesla list wrote:

> Many of the cover illustrations for "Popular Science" and
> "Popular Electronics" up to the 1960's were of devices that never
> became reality.
>      In general, if some illustration seems too amazing or too
> dangerous to make sense, it probably isn't real. A lot of amazing
> science is much more amazing than science.

Heh.  There's really no need to use biased language make the drawing seem
questionable.  It's already questionable! It's a drawing!  No doubt the
drawing contains many details which differ from a photograph made of the
same event.

Now here's some science, as opposed attempted Floccinaucinihilipilification*

  QUESTION:  If we actually build a large pancake-style TC secondary, and
  mount a sphere terminal on the end of a central rod, then does the
  discharge tend to occupy a fairly narrow cone which is directed
  outwards from the pancake coil?      Yes or no.

If nobody has experimentally determined the answer by building and
operating such a pancake-shaped secondary, then we have no business
pretending that we know the answer.

If we want to adopt a scientific attitude, then we're not supposed to
choose sides or to leap to unwarrented beliefs, instead we should remain
tenative in the face of the unknown, and as Faraday said, "Let the
experiment be made."

I was hoping that the experiment ALREADY was "made" by someone here, so
they'd give an answer.




* Ever hear of "Floccinaucinihilipilification?"  It's a symptom of
  anti-science thinking, and is a common tactic in law and politics.  It
  essentially means "Using rhetorical distortions to make something seem
  worthless."  It's common in non-science discussion.  Just use some
  derogatory language to describe your opponents' views.  And of course
  use glowing terms to describe your own.    The language of scientists
  seems odd in comparison, since ideally it lacks such distortions, so
  both the pro and con sides are treated equally.   For more, see:

  The clinical attitude
  http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/courses/inflogic/clinical.htm





> In a message dated 9/28/06 2:28:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> tesla@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
> Original poster: William Beaty <billb@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
>
> I stumbled across this newspaper illustration on Tesla Mem. Society site:
>
>     A Demonstration Made at Tesla's Laboratory Yesterday
>     http://www.teslasociety.com/pictures/teslaarticle2.jpg
>
>
> Odd that the discharge goes *away* from the coil.   The coil's EM field
> must sculpt the discharge path, no?
>
>
> This appears to be the same device which hung in Wardencliffe:
>
>     Wardenclyffe: exhibition of various inventions
>     http://www.teslasociety.com/pictures/labpic.jpg
>
>
> In these other famous photos, the sphere-electrode is not installed:
>
>     http://www.teslasociety.com/posters/teslalab.jpg
>
>     http://www.teslasociety.com/pictures/teslapic.jpg
>
>
> Here's another artist's conception, again showing the discharge going away
> from the coil.   I wonder if the discharge path was so reliable that Tesla
> could actually sit as shown below?  Or is it just an "artist's
> conception?"
>
>     http://homepage.ntlworld.com/forgottenfutures/tesla/tesla_4.gif
>
>
>
>
> (((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (  (O)  )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))
> William J. Beaty                      SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
> billb at amasci com                    http://amasci.com
> EE/programmer/sci-exhibits   amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair
> Seattle, WA  425-222-5066    unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci
>
>
>
>

(((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (O)    )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty                            SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb at amasci com                         http://amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits   amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair
Seattle, WA  425-222-5066    unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci