Re: Safe parameters for stupid human Tesla coil stunts

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Harold Weiss" <hweiss@xxxxxxxxxx>

Hi All,

I tried something like that with one of my older coils, only that I was
touching the grounded point of my "gator stick" so that the point was
presented first.  When I started seeing corona on the tip I stopped, as I
could feel every time the spark gap broke and the varying power of each
bang, and it felt like being ungrounded and touching a hot AC line.  The
fact that it felt like 60 Hz should send up warning flags.

David E Weiss

> Original poster: "Jim Lux" <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
>  > Original poster: "Hydrogen18" <hydrogen18@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>  >
>  >  >From what I understand Transtrom died when the corona from his
fingers
> hit a
>  > curtain rod and bam too much current I guess. Since relatively small
>  > currents are deadly, how can I hold a metal rod in my hand and draw
arcs
> off
>  > my SSTC without instant death? I discovered it on accident while
playing
>  > with inducing currents into nearby objects.
>  >
>  > Eric
>  >
>
> Relatively small currents "might" be deadly. Relatively large currents
are
> "more likely" to be deadly.
>
> lowish powers might only cause a painful RF burn and not instant death.
>
> The canonical tesla coil electrocution incident might be one of the
> following:
>
> 1) The spark goes somewhere it shouldn't and forms a low impedance path
> between the primary (high current at 10+kV) and you and ground.  This
would
> be like grabbing onto the output of the pole transformer.
>
> 2) The spark goes somewhere it shouldn't, the performer is startled, falls
> off the platform, and electrocutes themselves on the primary circuitry.
>
> 3) The current goes in a path different than normal, or today, your heart
> happens to be slightly more sensitive, or, everything just happens wrong,
> you go into fibrillation and die before anyone can get to you to save you.
>
>
> I think the real problem is that in a casual "take the spark from the TC"
> scenario, the whole circuit is sort of uncontrolled, so what works one
time
> might not work the next.  With the "fear factor" kind of stunt, the whole
> system was carefully planned, and controlled. There really wasn't a place
> for current to go that was unexpected.
>
>
>