Re: [TCML] RE: musing on lists ( Wireless Transmission Theory)

[William Beaty <billb@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 10 Feb 2008, Scott Stephens wrote:

> William Beaty wrote:
> > What if
> > I give the coil a 90deg kink, can I stop the waves and reflect them back?
> >
> Sharp bends in wire affect the impedance, so yes the impedance
> discontinuity will cause reflected power.

What if it doesn't?  A sharp discontiuity would be << wavelength, so it
might be invisible to the travelling wave.  Or in other words, if a TC
has a long narrow secondary, and we cut it in half to form an inverted "L"
shape, will the TC stop operating?  (Or perhaps only operate at 2x
frequency?)  I suspect that a chain of reasoning might not give the same
results as an actual experiment.

> > (A kink in the "electricity hose.")  Or, can I connect three together to
> > form a "Y" junction and have the waves divide evenly?
> Google hybrid power combiners, transmission-line transformers, Wilkinson
> power dividers/combiners.

There is no shield conductor.  This is one wire.  It's like a G-line.  Of
course we could couple the signal back to coax cable, then use
conventional devices.  But if this is a waveguide for, say, 50KHz,
wouldn't it be interesting to try to develop some waveguide devices which
can connect directly to plastic tubes wrapped with wire?

And about that "Y" junction secondary: if the two branches are of slightly
unequal length, won't the TC generate a slow beat-note?  Perhaps the
corona discharges would squeal with audio difference frequency.


> I can't help but suspect that if I knew how to make the right shape
> waveguide, and stick it in my microwave, and ionize the plasma, I could
> spew out hundreds of kilovolts if not megavolts of accelerated electrons.

A microwave *IS* a CW Tesla coil.  Well, it's a resonant RLC device being
driven by a sine wave.  And it's "secondary" is being driven at a high
overtone, with lots of nodes in a 3D array.  If we remove everything from
inside the oven (including the glass dish,) then e-fields approach
air-breakdown because of Resonant Rise.  Under these conditions a
sharpened rod of metal or carbon will give off a corona flame resembling a
blow-torch.  If a large plastic bag full of argon is placed in the oven, a
3D network of fine sparks results (and then the bag melts.)  Complete
description at http://amasci.com/weird/microwave/voltage2.html#storm


> Aren't Tesla Coils are "Weird stuff" too?

Once you have several different SPICE programs to describe an electrical
device, it stops being weird. (By 'weird,'   I guess I really mean
'unexplained mystery.'  Turbulence is weird.  Many aspects of corona
discharge and plasma streamers are werid. And take a look at journals like
Nature and Science if you want to see innumerable topics which have just
made the transition from "weird" to "explained!"  :)


(((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (O)    )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty                            SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb amasci com                            http://amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits   amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair
Seattle, WA  206-762-3138    unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci
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