RE: [TCML] Re: multi-section primary gap effects, was: TC Newbie

["Lau, Gary" <Gary.Lau@xxxxxx>]

I also believe that unlike topload streamers which grow over time, the arc in the gap occurs simultaneously to all segments.

At the top load, there is current flowing, both through the ionized streamer channel, and through RF displacement current (which does not require an ionized channel).  The ionized portion of the path grows over time.

In the gap, prior to the bang, there is zero current as there is not an ionized path, and there is no RF to support a displacement current.  Then at bang time, the gap instantly becomes conductive for the duration of the bang-interval.  It's an all-or-nothing proposition in the gap.

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of FIFTYGUY@xxxxxxx
> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 2:10 AM
> To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [TCML] Re: multi-section primary gap effects, was: TC Newbie
>
>
>
> In a message dated 12/10/08 10:51:03 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> bartb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>
> >With  a 2 gap setup, both air space on each side of the center electrode
> become  conductive at
> >the same time when the gap fires. It's not a leap frog  affect across the
> gap in the way that your >describing.
>
>     Is it really?
>     After all, we have no problem with streamers from  the topload growing,
> or starting from nearby objects, or even growing from the  middle of the
> distance outwards (or extinguishing the same way). The primary gap  is also pulsed
> high voltage RF - might it not also behave just as  "strangely"?
>     I've got photos of the Jacob's ladder from my pole  pig in which the arc
> extinguishes in sections, little wisps of the previous arc  are still floating
> in the gap while the new arc is starting. Would it be  too far-fetched to
> believe that those little wisps are more conductive than the  rest of the air in
> the gap, and thus if they were to exist across a single  section of a
> multi-section gap, that section would glow either first or the  brightest?
>     You also mentioned uneven heating of different gap  sections - if one
> section starts to conduct a little more frequently, and gets  the tips of its
> electrodes glowing from the heat, wouldn't we expect that  section to conduct
> first?
>     I realize that current has to flow through the  entire gap at the same
> time, but there may be a subjective effect where the part  of the gap that
> responds with the lowest resistance or quickest breakdown might  glow much more
> brightly than other gap sections, thus giving the illusion that  the current is
> "leapfrogging" the gaps.
>
>
> -Phil LaBudde
> Center for the Advanced Study of Ballistic  Improbabilities

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