Re: Z-Machine Sparkage- Try this at home!!

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

Original poster: "S Gaeta by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <sgtporky-at-prodigy-dot-net>

Hi Brian,

I never noticed the flashes, but I didn't experiment with this as
extensively as you did. I also didn't think of adding salt either.
I was going to try it with distilled water and see if it made any
difference, but I never got around to it.

What may be happening is that certain gasses may be formed, or liberated due
to the arc itself. Depending on the slight air currents in the room, it may
concentrate more at times, and may dissipate quicker at other times. It
might be interesting to put a clear tent over this and see what happens.

Sue

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 1:31 PM
Subject: RE: Z-Machine Sparkage- Try this at home!!


 > Original poster: "brianb by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<brianb-at-antelecom-dot-net>
 >
 > Sue,
 >
 > Sorry about the URL wrapping to the next line (I don't know why Exchange
 > does that sometimes).
 >
 > I added some detergent to reduce the surface tension of the water. This
 > produced much smaller pyramids of water which are very pointy and hard to
 > capture on camera as they go from a tiny bump on the water to a sharp
point
 > then arc over with a slight change in voltage. It looks like sometimes it
 > actually pulls a small ball of water loose and this triggers the
breakdown.
 >
 > I also added salt to the water and noticed quite a change in the
appearance
 > of the arcs. The overall distance (radius) they traveled didn't change but
 > the number of tiny arcs was reduced to a few thicker and brighter arcs.
I'll
 > try to post some more pictures today.
 >
 > Every couple dozen arcs creates a white flash and I've been unable to
 > identify its origin. The flash is easily observed by looking at the wall
 > behind the experiment or any of the test gear. I don't see it when looking
 > directly at the arcs on the water. Have you noticed anything similar? Any
 > idea what's going on?
 >
 > Regards,
 > Brian B.
 >
 > PS - Here is a shorter URL
 > http://www.briananddebbie-dot-com/backyard_science.htm Just click on "Arcs on
 > Water"...