Re: Undesired "effect" with saltwater caps

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

Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br>

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Chris by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<chris-at-atomic-pc-dot-com>

> What's happening is, now that I've switched to a series of copper tube
> sections as my spark gap (8 tube segments in series, ca. 1 mm apart),
> I'm getting big, loud (!) sparks inside the Snapple box which appear to
> be going from one bottle cap to the neighboring outside plate of the
> next bottle (this is several inches' distance).  Close examination of
> the bottles (after disconnecting, of course :-0 ) reveals myriad
> pinhole-sized burns through the aluminum foil on the outsides of the
> bottles, although the glass is intact and they do not appear to leak.
> The secondary will throw about 6 inches of spark if I experiment with #
> of primary turns.

Probably just insufficient insulation (distance) between the oppositely
charged conductors of the capacitors. Points and sharp corners in the
assembly may be triggering the discharges, so try to eliminate them
as much as possible. Perfectly flat plates on the bottle surfaces help,
and a layer of varnish around the edges of the plates may help too.
Another solution is to use salt water covered with a layer of oil
around the bottles too (messy).

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz