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Re: 1000 foot sparks?

Tesla List wrote:
> 
> >From EDHARRIS-at-MPS.OHIO-STATE.EDUMon Jun 10 20:26:17 1996
> Date: Sun, 09 Jun 1996 23:30:25 -0400 (EDT)
> From: EDHARRIS-at-MPS.OHIO-STATE.EDU
> To: tesla-at-pupman.COM
> Subject: Re: 1000 foot sparks?
> 
> For those interested in long sparks:
> 
> Check out "Gas Discharge Physics" by Yuri P. Raizer (Springer-Verlag 1991)
> 
> On page 159 experiments with optical breakdown in air using a Neodymium
> laser are discussed. Apparently a 60meter (196 feet) visible discharge
> channel was obtained with a laser pulse of 160 joules with peak power of
> 5GWatt....
> 
> it would have been interesting if they could have followed this initial ionized
> path with discharges from a large tesla coil. I wonder how long the
> discharge channel would have been stable...

Hi Ed,

I have heard of many such occurances with government and institutional 
research level systems.  This is neat!  I am sure that a Tesla coil spark 
would travel easily along such an ionized path.  (the Corums have done 
some work along this line in following up on the Tesla "death ray" 
idea).

It is too bad the pulses are single shot deals and last nanoseconds.  I 
would love to see a CW or continous pulsed arc channel this long.  I 
doubt if a Tesla coil will ever do it though.

The longest arcs I have heard claimed for a Tesla coil are the ludicrous 
120 foot sparks claimed in the lore (and lore alone) for Tesla's 1899 
work.  Of course, this is someone's pipe dream and is taken totally out 
of context from a statement made by Tesla himself. (my book on the 
Colorado Spring Notes explains this in detail)

 The longest arcs claimed by a modern builder are 75 feet!  This was made 
to my face by the builder himself and I have numerous other witnesses.  
The name of the builder shall remain anonimous.  Naturally, when pressed 
for images of this amazing coilin action, we were told that none existed. 
 I find it amazing that with such a system, the builder was of such a 
dilatory nature that he never bothered with pictures of videos to 
substantiate his claims.  Amazingly, there were no pictures of even the 
dead, cold, coil for view either. Enough said here!

1000 foot arcs rolls of the tongue so easily!  It would only be found 
rolling of the tongue of someone who has never built a coil larger than a 
table top model.  I'm waiting for this guy to produce!

Richard Hull, TCBOR