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Re: How should we measure coil efficiency
From: Greg Leyh[SMTP:lod-at-pacbell-dot-net]
Sent: Sunday, July 27, 1997 5:58 PM
To: Tesla List
Subject: Re: How should we measure coil efficiency
John H. Couture wrote:
> Have you measured the cap voltages and found they were the same at each break?
> What were the BKS/sec?
+/- 5% variance, at about 300 PPS.
> Was it possible to measure the cap voltage for one long free air spark?
>
> How did it compare with the cap voltages for the shorter sparks?
>
> Note that the length of the spark depends upon the voltage and energy in
> the cap.
>
> If there were no changes in the cap voltages do you think the ionization
> of the air is being averaged out over time? I have never heard of anyone who
> has checked this possibility.
I am certain that the ionization of the air is being averaged out over time,
since the mean ion lifetimes are comparable to the break period. Therefore
pulse-to-pulse variations in cap voltage should not affect the spark length,
to first order. This possibility can be verified by watching video of a TC
in operation -- it takes several frames, and thus many gap firings, for the
arc to reach its ultimate length. The final arc is therefore the sum of many
smaller individual streamer extensions.
-GL