Re: [TCML] How Important is Location?

[futuret@xxxxxxx]

 Gary, Becky,

I seem to remember that Terry Fritz used to talk about altitude in this context, on the list.
He was at a high altitude in Colorado and I think he indicated that his sparks
were indeed longer, and he used a correction factor to adjust the
spark length numbers for more average altitudes.  Some other folks may have
did some altitude experiments, too, I can't remember exactly.  

Cheers
John

 


 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Lau, Gary <Gary.Lau@xxxxxx>
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, Mar 29, 2010 12:39 pm
Subject: RE: [TCML] How Important is Location?


You ask an interesting question that I've not seen previously discussed here.  I 
think there are two things that would be affected by altitude.

If using a static spark gap, assuming that no adjustment was made for altitude, 
the gap breakdown voltage for a given gap width will be lower at high altitudes.  
This would result in a smaller "bang" size and lower performance, so to keep 
things equal, a high-altitude coil would need the gap width expanded to 
compensate.

And, it's likely that for the same topload voltage, the length of sparks will be 
longer at higher altitudes, since low pressure gasses are more easily ionized.  

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Alice
> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 12:19 PM
> To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [TCML] How Important is Location?
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I was reading how you all were discussing whether or not the 50 or 60hz of 
different
> countries is an issue.  I was wondering about another location issue, sea 
level vs.
> mountaintop.  If one made a Tesla coil that works perfectly at sea level and 
then
> took it to a mountaintop, would it work the same way?  I know cooking 
directions
> are slightly different for high altitude, would it be the same case here?  I 
recall
> reading something Tesla wrote where he said there was some sort of difference.
> 
> I just joined, by the way.  I am from Florida.  I recently have been reading a 
lot
> about Tesla and his coils.  I am new to this.  Please try to answer me in a 
not too
> complex fashion as I am not an electrical engineer.
> 
> Thank you all,
> 
> Becky
> _______________________________________________
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