Re: [TCML] danger - capacitor discharge.

[<pterren@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just to be correct Bob, while your sentiments are clear your facts may not 
be. A DC shock as from a capacitor will induce cardiac contraction while 
current is applied. After the source is removed the heart resumes normal 
function.  I have done this hundreds of times to people (under anaesthetic 
or in extremis) and it's called cardioversion.
These normally deliver up to 360 joules into the chest body resistance 
between large conductive pads of around 50 - 100 ohms (modern machines print 
this out with each shock). There is a series coil of around 47 mH to limit 
peak current flow in the medical situation. Typical capacitors are Maxwell 
pulse rated around 36 uF at 5.2 kV and each stores 500 J.  It is 
synchronised to avoid the shock on a T wave.

In fact a tenth of an amp is more likely to induce ventricular fibrillation 
due to incomplete contraction.

Cheers
Peter

On 3 Jan 2012, at 23:42, Bob Svangren <qogman@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I am so very surprised at the amount of coilers who are attempting the 
> great adventure of building a Tesla coil and other contrivances without 
> much knowledge of the dangers involved.
>  There is a great danger in charging even a small capacitor to a high 
> potential and getting a hand across the terminals. It only takes one tenth 
> of an amp across the human heart to kill. Other dangers are the high speed 
> rotary switching systems which if not in perfect balance, can explode.
>  The high voltages of most Tesla coils are not as much of a concern as the 
> extremely high peak amps of the primary and you will not get a second 
> chance at life.  There is a danger with the Ozone gas from long runs of 
> Tesla coils . Keeping fresh air in the lab is very important. The fellow 
> that is working with X-rays should do a lot of reading on the subject in 
> order to have any chance of good health after testing these devices.  Even 
> the coatings applied to secondary coils can be of great danger. Testing a 
> fresh coil can cause the gasses inside the tube to explode.
>  One coiler wrote of using soft black plastic to build a rotary switching 
> system. I can't
> stress enough the dangers of using soft plastics to build the rotary disc. 
> At one time, Lexan, poly carbonate was thought to be bullet proof and thus 
> was used by many coilers for the rotary disk.
>  I have done extensive research in this and found that Lexan or any other 
> poly carbonate is the
> absolute wrong thing to use. It is not bullet proof and will also get soft 
> and distort with heat.
>  I did the bullet test and all it did was dent where the bullet hit but 
> the shock wave shattered the lexan like window glass. This was after I had 
> a beautiful Lexan rotary gap explode in my lab and I came very close to 
> being killed. Read a lot, get informed, use a lot of caution. Good luck.
>
> NORTHWEST TESLA COIL BUILDERS
>
> Bob 
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