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Re: >> Subject: First post: Fluorescent lighting
Tesla List wrote:
>
> Hi Phil,
> Just curious, can your mini TC produce sparks? Sparks are not wasteful if
> that is your goal. Do you know haw much high voltage you are making?
Hi Dave, Actually I did make a few sparks when I tried lighting too
many lamps
with one small coil. It wasn't a continuous discharge of sparks like
you might
see from a conventional Tesla coil, just a flash when the windings
burned at one
point. Small sparks could be observed when I took the single wire and
put it in
close proximity to the metallic contact of the fluorescent lamp, but it
was not very
impressive. BTW, I was also able to light a neon sign with the same
coil.
I would imagine that if one were to construct a coil of similar
construction with
a higher turn ratio, that it would be possible to produce sparks.
However one
would need to address the matter of breakdown on the insulation of the
windings.
> I didn't understand your statement about using higher voltage on the lamps.
> Isn't it current that does the work after ionization?
> Dave
It appeared to me that the lamp lit due to the electric field intensity,
and that
the light output was not as much a function of the current. I might be
wrong on
this, but it seemed the higher the voltage, the easier it was to produce
light.
Phil Gantt