Re: is it safe to touch???

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>

Hi Manjinder,

	Many people use full metal suits and such so they are basically fully
enclosed in a very robust metal Faraday cage.  The few folks that do these
stunts just with their bare hands with high power coils are masters of
coiling and they simply know what they are doing.  However, the risk is
still very high and they know it.

It's one of those things that if you have to ask how, you don't know
enough...  The people I know of who periodically do the "human fire ball"
stunt are:

Brent Turner  http://www.teslacoil-dot-com/
Dean Ortner  http://www.wondersofscience-dot-org/sfs/MILLION.HTM
Robert Krampf  http://www.krampf-dot-com/watt.html

Henry Transtrom also did this stuff all the time till he got killed...

For the rest of us, this stuff is far too dangerous to mess with...  Many
past discussions are in the archives.  Searching for the subject "Arcs off
the fingers and getting killed in the process..." pretty much has all the
usual details.  www.pupman-dot-com

One thing I have found very interesting is that Robert Krampf's demo
(http://www.krampf-dot-com/watt.html) all the RF currents from his headband go
right through his brain, spinal cord, etc.  (The "skin effect" does not
apply to people.  In people, the skin depth is about a 1 meter so unless
you are really fat...)  He says that it can give him real bad headaches but
after 20 years, he has suffered no permanent damage.  That is sort of
reassuring for the rest of use who like to watch from 10 feet away. ;-))

Of course, I can't emphasize enough that people should never try to copy
these stunts performed by people who have a 1000X our knowledge in this
area.  Transtrom was a master of his day and his death is a haunting
reminder that Tesla coils can easily kill the best of the experts...

Personally, I never touch the arcs off ANY coils.  I used to all the time.
However, the more I learn about Tesla coils, the further away I stand...

Also, beware that the coils we build today are typically far more powerful
than coils built years ago.  They are very good at delivering power to arcs
and they are equally good at delivering lethal shocks.  MMCs can be made
with just a few caps (like 8) now that have all the killing power of many
big oil caps of years back.  As we get better at making even small coils at
high power, the risks only increase.

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/TeslaCoils/Safety/safety.htm

Cheers,

	Terry



At 11:46 AM 12/9/2000 -0800, you wrote:
>Hey all, 
>once a coiler has mastered his art he just cant get
>enough of steamers, sparks and arcs. He must go
>further. Many coiler (wackos) like to insulate
>themselves and get in contact with the secondary. Its
>like playing Russian roulette. Putting their life in
>hands of the skin effect. of course this can be done
>w/o any harm if ur running a small coil. But what
>about big ones???some people actually do it on 7KVA
>systems...where should the line be drawn???
>what power is acceptable for this kinds of
>stunts...and what is not???How can one make the
>judgement whether or not the coil is safe???
>Mbains
>
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