Re: [TCML] Slo-Mo Videos of Tesla Coil

[Garry Freemyer <garryfre@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

My guess is it's because  the magnetic frequencies off of a spark gap coil are more chaotic than tube or solid state coils which are tuned rather than chaotic.

With a spark gap there are many harmonics, and so its less of an ordered effect on ionized air around the top load.

I suspect the ordered magnetic field causes ions to spiral as they fall in or are pushed away from the coil a and the sparks are following these ion trails.

That's my guess for what it's worth or not worth.



________________________________
From: Frosty <frosty90@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 5:18:36 PM
Subject: Re: [TCML] Slo-Mo Videos of Tesla Coil

Has anyone ever noticed that CW sparks often have a 'cork-screw' sort of
appearance? looking at Derek's shots there it seems like the ionized channel
starts off rather straight then sort of twists up, could this be due to the
magnetic field from the current in the arc forcing the channel out in one
direction then another, or maybe convictive air currents (it seems to happen
too quick for this). also why do SGTC's not produce the cork-screw like
effects seen in solid state/vacuum tube coils? Is it the longer 'on' time
for each spark?

Cheers,
Jesse
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