Re: [TCML] Power arcs

[sfxneon@xxxxxxx]

The initial "spark" happens when the breakdown voltage of air is exceeded  
and conduction takes place. If there is sufficient power to sustain the 
spark,  it can grow into an "arc" when the plasma channel remains hot and 
ionized just  long enough for the next half of the AC cycle. This allows the 
plasma channel  to grow in length with each successive half cycle and whip  
around more due to convection currents. (The hot plasma channel  (arc) wants to 
expand and rise because it's hotter and lighter than the  surrounding air.) 
 
If you blow air across the arc from a tranny, it will turn it back into  
that blue snapping spark because it keeps the air from remaining ionized 
between  cycles. That's the idea behind a spark gap in a Tesla coil, to keep it 
from  growing into an arc by blowing it out after each power cycle and 
trapping  the transferred energy in the secondary.
 
Tony Greer
___________

In a message dated 1/16/2010 3:27:23 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
teslamad@xxxxxxx writes:

So whats the difference between the short fast snapping blue arcs off a  
tranny as compared to the established red and orange whipping arcs. Have  
the blue arcs simply not yet discovered the best path to ground. I  
suspect it has to do with the amount of time the power is in a select  
region of space occupied by the air, and how it ionizes the air. Someone  
shed some light please.


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