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Re: Strange Blue Glows Re: [TCML] Energy accumulation on TC.
Ok, It looks like those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.
First, it looks like Phil used a Sodium vapor lamp, HPS (High
Pressure Sodium), which you cannot compare with a regular lamp in this case.
The arcs would have ionized the sodium vapor to cause the residual
glow and also would cause different effects compared to a "regular" lamp.
Modern light bulbs are usually back filled with trace amounts of
Krypton. This serves a couple purposes, it makes the lamp last longer
and gives a brighter light.
If you can find a large diameter clear light bulb, a 4" decorator, or
a 200-300 W Mogul, both of which are almost impossible to find, you
can make a nice plasma type display with a small TC or flyback circuit.
Because these lamps are back filled, it is very hard to get X rays
out of them.
Gas in the lamp or radio tube prevents the energy level from getting
high enough to emit X rays. IE, the gas turns the tube or lamp into a
voltage regulator.
Now, if you get a clear lamp made before 1960, these usually had a
hard vacuum and you can see the green fluorescence when excited with
a Tesla coil. I say usually as some of the lamps were back filled
with nitrogen to extend the life of the lamp.
Same with a radio tube, in fact I have an article on how to make an X
ray using an '01A tube and a homemade Oudin coil which some members
requested a copy of. The selection of tube is important as you do not
want a detector or gas filled type.
Tesla had a single ended X ray tube he made and using a lamp is
exactly the same thing.
I have a replica of his tube and it works quite well.
There are also a couple differences with lamps today as well. HPS or
LPS, Mercury arc and Halogen lamps are usually constructed with boro
silicate (Pyrex) or Quartz envelopes to handle the hotter operating
temperatures.
Soft or soda glass is used in "regular" light bulbs and radio tubes
and will fluoresce green while Pyrex type glass will fluoresce blue.
I do not know if quartz will fluoresce.
Small light bulbs will give a green glow excited with a TC,
indicating X ray are given off. Keep in mind, the radiation is not in
a focused beam as generated in a X ray tube and it would take hrs or
days of constant exposure and close range before serious health
threats could possibly become a concern. Just stay clear of the end
of the bulb opposite the power in.
The shadow effect some members report as classic effects that were
seen with Crookes Maltese Cross tubes. There would be a shadow in the
glass of the cross shape when the tube was energized and the cross
could be flipped down and the shadow could still be seen for a short
time. It demonstrated persistence in the glass.
This design was the first X ray tube as used by Roentgen and rapidly
modified into a focused design by Jackson for better performance.
They found the cross tube was too diffused to be an effective X ray
source and exposures took too long. The Jackson focused tube
concentrated the beam and made it into a workable X ray tube and this
basic design is still in use today for modern tubes.
It is a neat effect on a larger TC BUT I would strongly suggest using
a regular incandescent lamp instead of HPS, LPS or Mercury vapor
lamps as they can explode with dramatic effects. That is why they
usually have a double envelope.
A regular lamp can implode too so use eye protection as a minimum!
If you can find a large searchlight lamp in the 50,000 candle power
range, a nice display can be made.
If you live costal, talk to the coast guard and ask for old lamps
from light houses. Elsewhere, ask the FAA for old lamps from their
rotating beacon aircraft warning lamps or a radio station for
aircraft warning lamps from their antennas.
If you want a plasma effect, us a gas filled tube as these will not
produce X rays.
You can also demonstrate a very interesting effect Tesla mentions by
bringing a needle point discharger up to the envelope of the lamp and
turn the TC on (works only with small TC's). The lamp will show the
discharge effect in a vacuum and then a hole will be burned thru the
glass, yet the bulb still maintains a vacuum as long as the power is
on until the hole enlarges or the envelope shatters!!!
Frank
At 11:13 AM 2/27/2008 -0600, you wrote:
I have seen it too. I had an old light bulb (clear) and would glow
green when energised. The glass would glow a faint green for a few
minutes afterwards. In this case it was probably due to
X-rays. One neat thing when energised was the magnified image of
the broken filiment on the glass. The filiment would dance around
and the image would move also, but you could make out the coil of
the filiment in the image. I should try some X-ray pics with that bulb.
David E Weiss
FWIW, a coupla weeks ago I stuck a used ~400 Watt HPS bulb up on the toroid
and ran arcs through it for several minutes. Afterwards everybody noticed
that the arc tube glowed a faint blue/violet for a coupla minutes afterward.
-Phil LaBudde
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