Re: coils in space

["Mark S. Rzeszotarski, Ph.D." <mrzeszotarsk-at-MetroHealth-dot-org> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Greetings All:
Terry said in part:
>BTW - Wasn't someone going to run a coil in a big bag filled with argon?
>Perhaps I missed what happened...  Did it do anything cool?
        I have done a number of experiments with argon.  It ionizes at a lov
voltage compared to air, yielding blue/purple sparks.  Last night I
connected my small coil to a length of 3/4" clear plastic pipe filled with
argon gas at room temperature and pressure.  The coil produces 10" sparks in
air, but was able to form arcs in the tube approximately 72" long!  The
sparks grow along the limited ion path inside the tube to substantial
lengths.  The tubing also gets hot (blowing the plug out of one end, thus
ending my argon experiment after a few minutes of operation).  I have also
used globes and find the arc length about twice that in air in general using
argon at room pressures.
Regards,
Mark S. Rzeszotarski, Ph.D., MetroHealth Medical Center,Radiology
Department, Cleveland OH 44109-1998