Re: [TCML] DANGER Ground wire question

[Peter Terren <pterren@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have a different perspective on earth grounds. My background in 
question here is that I do a number of shows where I am in in close 
proximity to a Tesla coil of 5-10kW size.  Many of these are conducted 
(no pun etc) on a bitumenised parking area with a 20 ft ground wire 
which I supplement with a few square feet of counterpoise which can 
spark to the tarmac or at least have some capacitative coupling to it. 
Anything that I connect myself to will be at some potential to the 
various RF "earths".
When I hold an umbrella up to draw sparks onto it, I wear a chainmail 
glove with two wires directly back to the TC base.
http://tesladownunder.com/tesla_coil_sparks.htm#Umbrella
With direct sparks to the umbrella, this simply completes the circuit 
path. With streamers, the situation might be different as I am at TC 
base potential whereas the earth may be at different relative potential. 
In some cases this is probably blocked by my jogging shoes and the poor 
tarmac conductivity. When developing a stunts like this I start from a 
shorted TC and gradually move out. In this way I can feel any minor 
leakages before they become a problem.
Different issues affect the Faraday cage and swimming pool shows in 
regard to earthing but many issues arise due to the fact that different 
splaces in the RF earth are at different potentials.  Even a straight 
wire has inductance, RF impedance and a significant voltage drop. It's 
not ususally a good idea to just "touch something" to see if it is 
dangerous.

Peter www.tesladownunder.com

Chris Arielles wrote:
> > > Is the ground wire and ground rod of a Tesla coil dangerous. If 
> > > someone were to touch it during coil operation that is? Sorry im a 
> > > noob.
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