Having done something like this myself I'll describe what I observed;
(The power supply was cannibalized from a plasma ball unit, so, a sort of
lower voltage version of a TC.)
With a groundplate inside the vacuum chamber, as the vacuum was drawn, the
arcing came to an abrupt end and was replaced by a generalized plasma,
which then with further vacuum went suddenly dark but for small pale blue
halos about both the HV terminal and the ground plate. Upon further vacuum,
the pale blue remained around the terminal and ground, but a pale thin
pinkish region emerged between them.
Without the ground plate inside the chamber, it went from plasma to dark
with the same pale blue halo as before around the HV terminal, but then I
noticed that another strange blue light was rushing through the tubing back
towards the vacuum unit itself- seeking ground no doubt. Not wanting to
find what would happen to my vacuum unit when used as a ground for the HV,
I pulled the plug.
If you want to peek over the edge and into the abyss, try shaped electrodes
like D.J. Nelson did back in the 1970s.
Here's a pic he took- (The emitting light was so weak it was necessary to
expose the film for over a minute)
(And of course, experimenting with this can produce x-rays so you should
use appropriate precautions if you do.)
-Nick
On Mon, Dec 25, 2017 at 3:09 PM, YESN via Tesla <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> This is less of a practical question and more theoretical:
> If you were to have a huge vacuum room and were to put a big tesla coil in
> it, how far would the arcs go? (Assuming it is a complete vacuum)
> If you were to have a static spark gap in vacuum there would be no
> resistance right? Therefore the gap would fire continuesly?
>
> The convential explenation of plasma is ionised air trough which electrons
> flow right? Is a medium like air needed for ‘lightning’?
>
> My kind regards,
> Yesn
>
> Sent from ProtonMail Mobile
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