Re: Parallel and Series LCR Circuit Qs

["Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Jim Lux" <jimlux-at-jpl.nasa.gov>

> Interestingly, nobody is quite sure why long sparks, lightning, etc. form
> forked and erratic channels, unless it is just a random thing and one
> direction is as good as the other at each step in the leader formation.  As
> you can imagine, making measurements about what is going on is, to say the
> least, challenging, at those speeds, esp if you don't want to perturb the
> fields or phenomena.

I think that the erratic paths and forking may be caused by dust 
particles in the air. The spark leaders would try to track along the
most conductive particles, and the spark would follow the same path.
It's actually possible see this happen if you try to produce sparks 
between dusty electrodes. The sparks always hit the most proeminent 
dust particles, and sometimes it's possible to see a spark tracking
over a long particle that was blown into the air.
I wonder what appearance sparks would have in very clean air.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz