Re: Big Coil, small transformer Blues....

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <FutureT-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 9/7/01 10:17:18 AM Eastern Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

> For a given Tesla coil system that is efficient with a given secondary 
coil, 
>  why does the sparklength not increase when a larger secondary is dropped 
in 
>  place of the original one?

Justin,

I don't see any reason why it *should* increase.  One reason
the the sparks get shorter is because the energy tends to be
trapped in the large secondary instead of in a large topload.
If the secondary is too large, it forces a smaller than optimal
toroid to be used, to permit breakout.  Large secondaries
with relatively small toroids tend to be an inefficient arrangement.

John Freau