[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Flourescent tubes, no resistance?



Original poster: Ed Phillips <evp@xxxxxxxxxxx>

Tesla list wrote:

Original poster: Mike <megavolts61@xxxxxxxxx>

I was thinking about this just last week or so. To mimic Telsa's demonstration of wireless energy transmission, I was thinkg of hooking a number of old 8 ft fluorescent bulbs in series to get an artificially plasma conducting channel...I was warned that they contain some mercury, so it might genterate a small amount of x-rays in doing this....so I will have my lead underwear on if I do it. I don't know how a gas inside the bulb would 'burn out' as you suggest unless it combines the the metals and/or the phospors. I don't that I'd try using them for the primary tank circuit...possibly the leads from an NST to the tank circuit, but there doesn't appear in my mind to be any advantage to that and insulating them would be problematic, I'd think
Mike



Original poster: "M G" <gt4awd@xxxxxxxxx>


Hi everyone, a while ago I found out that flourescent tubes offer no
resistance to electricity. They must be current ballasted to operate
at the desired amperage. Hooking a mains line directly across a tube
will allow full current draw until the breaker pops. That is if the
tube doesnt blow up first. Not sure if it would do that, but it seems
possible.



My questions is, is it possible to use a flourescent tube as a high
voltage connection for a small tesla/medium tesla coil? Better yet,
some kind of wire that is gas filled, but I'm not sure if such a
thing is even on the market. Where I see this to be useful is in long
connections leading to say, the primary coil. Or for instance, assume
that a ground connection is very far away. Some type of gas filled
electrical connection could be used to connect to the far away
distance without any added resistance.

"No resistance" in the first paragraph is incorrect. What is true is that, at low frequencies, the INCREMENTAL resistance is negative meaning that if you get the lamp lit at some voltage the current will tend to run away; the ballast limits the current as you point out. At much higher frequencies this effect is no longer there and operation without a ballast is more stable. The miserable compact screw-in fluorescents work around 40 kHz or so and don't need a conventional ballast. Do a web search and you'll find a lot of information on the actual behavior of fluorescent bulbs at high frequencies and the design of suitable driving circuits.

A string of fluorescent bulbs connected to a TC would indeed conduct current but not with very low resistance. Tesla apparently misinterpreted his results with evacuated tubes - he had no way to measure the resistance and the high voltage high impedance circuits he used would still transfer power with the real resistance that was there. His claims in one of his "world power system" patents that the resistance of the "rarified region" would conduct energy more effectively than a copper wire were pure bunkum and I wonder if he himself really believed that. Look at the typical voltage drops in neon sign tubing to see the resistance to expect.

Ed