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Big Tesla Coil

  • Thread starter Dirk Bruere at NeoPax
  • Start date
D

Don Klipstein

Jan 1, 1970
0

Question: How come some streamers seem to terminate in the air?

When a streamer terminates in the air, current flowing through it flows
through capacitance between the streamer and ground. I have seen this
effect before, while playing with homebrew Tesla coils.

One effect that is my usual experience with solid state Tesla coils
(ones oscillating continuously, especially) is that I get very intense
corona. The capacitance between the corona and ground (or between corona
on a nearby grounded point and the coil) is sufficient to pass current of
a significant fraction of a milliamp to even milliamps. I was able to
ignite paper with that intense corona. In some situations, current
flowing through this corona concentrates into streamers.

One thing I noticed in the video was that streamers going nowhere were
not as bright as sparks that were hitting something.

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])
 
D

Dirk Bruere at NeoPax

Jan 1, 1970
0
Don said:
When a streamer terminates in the air, current flowing through it flows
through capacitance between the streamer and ground. I have seen this
effect before, while playing with homebrew Tesla coils.

One effect that is my usual experience with solid state Tesla coils
(ones oscillating continuously, especially) is that I get very intense
corona. The capacitance between the corona and ground (or between corona
on a nearby grounded point and the coil) is sufficient to pass current of
a significant fraction of a milliamp to even milliamps. I was able to
ignite paper with that intense corona. In some situations, current
flowing through this corona concentrates into streamers.

One thing I noticed in the video was that streamers going nowhere were
not as bright as sparks that were hitting something.

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])

So, what happens if you get hit by one of those streamers?
Burns I would guess, but does the high frequency prevent you getting
electrocuted?

--
Dirk

http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK
http://www.theconsensus.org/ - A UK political party
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onetribe - Occult Talk Show
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
So, what happens if you get hit by one of those streamers? Burns I would
guess, but does the high frequency prevent you getting electrocuted?

I once saw a guy standing on top of a big Tesla coil, about 4' tall by
about 18" diameter, and showed streamers from his fingertips. He did
have kind of a grimace on his face, like it hurt a bit.

Cheers!
Rich
 
D

Don Klipstein

Jan 1, 1970
0
So, what happens if you get hit by one of those streamers?
Burns I would guess, but does the high frequency prevent you getting
electrocuted?

I would not count on it. A coil that size may have a rather low
resonant frequency.

Furthermore, my experience is that sometimes Tesla coils can shock. The
capacitance of the top of the secondary can discharge with the oscillation
stalling, resulting in a pulse with some DC and broadband low frequency
component. The top of that big coil looks to me to have capacitance of
several 10's of picofarads, discharging when its voltage reaches maybe a
couple megavolts. This sounds to me like a fairly nasty shock.

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])
 
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