Re:Tesla and X-Rays...
Some papers Tesla published on X-Rays:
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/TeslaArchive/Articles.htm
There are more, and photos showing some 200 tubes in Leland Andersen's 1897 Tesla lecture.
He was an avid experimenter, but some of his statements to the general press did more harm than good.
Some were taken with a grain of salt then, but republished time and time again by modern authors...who
regurgitate it all without a knowledge of the real history that followed. Many other scientists, especially
Tesla's rivals, were quick to correct some of his eccentric statements... the greatest was William Herbert Rollins.
Rollins knew more about X-Rays in 1896 than most other pioneers did in 1926. He was a dentist by trade, crotchety and blunt...but spot on as
far as science is concerned. His peers hated him, he wasn't politically correct, he wasn't a member of prestigious
organizations, but he was a scientist, was practical, and employed X-Rays daily in his practice.
Rollins book is priceless:
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/2010/RollinsNotes/index.htmhttp://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/2010/RollinsDiagrams/index.htm
Its very rare, and sells for about $1600 a copy. But its as valuable as Tesla's London Lecture so far as beautiful experiments are concerned.
There is a big difference between generating X-Rays and generating useable X-Rays. I've demonstrated that before -
a tube with beautiful fluorescence that appears to be working perfect may not make a radiograph or be useful for fluoroscopy...only
when you make the image and see for yourself do you really know. Its a bit like R&D for ballistic materials...you never know till you shoot it!
Tesla could generate rays that could expose a plate 40 feet away, but honestly, how would this be practical for medical use? It doesn't mean it isn't
really cool, but at some point the stuff has to be practical too. Luckily some of his fans made fortunes making some of the concepts useable.
Tesla and others published that X-Ray burns were impossible to receive or lessened with various developments. This
was never true 100%. They might have been lessened to some degree, but never rendered SAFE. Tesla employed high frequency tubes and
used aluminum screens and filters...regardless of his own theories (arresting particles thrown from the tube, etc) they absorbed some of the scattered rays generated...an important discovery... and later these were adopted in various radiotherapy techniques. But, more importantly, harder tubes and higher voltages
also meant more penetrating X-Rays that would not have caused the superficial burns as quickly anyway... and while the effects were not immediate, they
were more dangerous in the long run. If you lay in the sun under UV an hour you might be burned in a few hours...with a soft X-Ray tube the burns might not appear for a month and an exposure of only 15 minutes, but with a hard X-Ray tube the effects might take a few years, but the damage far greater.
Some interesting things... a Geissler tube can become an X-Ray tube if run on a Tesla Coil for long extended periods. The residual gases can be absorbed into the walls
of the tube and components and the vacuum grows harder and harder. I've seen "Violet Ray" electrodes - though they are very very very rare - which have done this.
They normally puncture or fail in some other manner first. This phenomena was correctly described by Rollins (as to why vacuum levels change), Tesla said that the particles were "expelled" through the walls of the tubes and this is how tubes became harder. It sounds absurd, but I operated a tube in this manner and can see why he thought that. If you push the voltage far enough the far wall of the tube becomes heated, a conductor, it softens, and brush discharges appear looking as if the energy in the bulb could be carrying the contents away. The vacuum appears (and truly becomes) harder, the fluorescence of the glass shows this, and X-Ray output decreases until the voltage on the coil is increased to keep the ray production constant. Its especially strange to see an actual puncture in the tube and the same effect... If I didn't witness this with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it. Once the power is turned off though the tubes fracture or implode. And if the spark gap misfires or the circuit is interrupted in any way you have a catastrophic failure. This experiment puts you at serious risk in many ways, really not smart.
I have not exposed myself to X-Rays in more than 6 months, I have also not exposed myself to excessive amounts of ozone from any of the Pancake Coil experiments. My health has improved dramatically. This stuff takes it toll on you in unforeseen ways...and things like "Tesla X-Rays are safe" and "high frequency is harmless" is absolutely wrong. Most of these authors don't know a Tesla Coil a from an induction coil to begin with and have no authority to publish anything...but it sure doesn't stop them.
The experiments of Tesla and others from 1896-1898 or so regarding X-Rays can keep a person busy for years (I'm proof). The interweaving of politics, rivalry, and fascinating experiments is endless. As well as all of the side effects of this, like women going to X-Ray parties and fluoroscoping each other wearing all of their finest jewelry...truth stranger than fiction.........
If you want to sit back, relax, drink a beer, and listen to the 1896 X-Ray Waltz to some beautiful antique Tesla apparatus and X-Ray tubes of my friend Frank Jones, I made this little tribute video to him and his collection. A friend Lita had someone play the music to the original sheet music, which contained a Queen's X-Ray tube making a radiograph of a hand. Its a nice few minutes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj8n-oD-LOk
Enjoy.
> I assume you've tried shielding them, etc to make sure it's X-rays and not
> interference or something...
>
> Have you studied "Tesla's X-Rays" at all? With these there is no anode in
> the tube, *supposedly* Tesla was able to achieve a number of phenomena
> that regular X-rays did not produce.
>
> (there are rumors he and his assistants received massive doses of these
> rays with no ill effects... but I would not count on this to protect
> yourself!)
>
> It would be interesting if you were able to demonstrate whether you were
> getting "regular" X-rays or the Tesla variety.
>
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