Re: [TCML] QCW sparks

[Steve Ward <steve.ward@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Aron,

On Sun, May 29, 2011 at 4:53 PM, Aron Koscho <kc5uto@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> That's interesting Steve, this seems to imply that the output voltage of a
> coil is basically the voltage at which its top load breaks down, regardless
> of streamer length.


Well, i think its more that the streamer length in this case is highly
sensitive to voltage.  My personal explanation as for why its only ~11kV
more to grow 4 foot of spark is that theres probably about an 11kV drop
across 4 feet of spark in the steady state like this.


> This would then make streamer length a function of
> current and time, variables which you are controlling with the QCW setup.


Right.  Some other observations are that 1) if i ramp too fast i can achieve
the same 56kV (or more, ive seen up to 66kV) and get shorter sparks, often
with forking, 2) if i ramp up and hold a constant supply voltage, the sparks
do not seem to grow much during the hold time.  So you really need *some*
increase in voltage to keep growing the sparks, but apparently its not a
whole lot when you are dealing on this extended time scale.


> I
> have a 100kV vacuum capacitor divider laying around, if I can find the time
> I'll repeat your experiment. Very cool results!
>

Excellent.

Steve


>
> Aron
>
>
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