On 4/10/11 8:29 AM, nickobert testein wrote:
Hello, My name is Nick. Just starting to get my head around your concepts. I just like reading your discussions right now but if its okay with someone on training wheels with a question. I won't do this often because its obnoxious walking when you'd rather run but here it is: when a Tesla coil arcs in the air and not to ground, what exactly is the arc arcing to?
Not a silly question at all..and one that doesn't have a "good" answer, as well.
it's arcing to nowhere in particular. You've got a buildup of charge, that results in an increase in voltage, the electric field near the topload exceeds the breakdown strength of air (3MV/meter) and a spark (aka leader) starts. current flows into that spark as it grows.. That means charge is moving off the topload into the spark. Meanwhile since a spark has some resistance, the current flowing dissipates heat, so the energy goes into making the air hot (and glowing!).. The spark keeps growing, as long as there's charge to keep "filling" the ionized channel.
However, eventually, the charge runs out, and the spark cools off, and it's all over, without the spark ever getting to somewhere.
If you look at how lightning propagates, it's exactly the same (on a somewhat larger scale)
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