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grounds for suspicion

Subject:  grounds for suspicion
  Date:   Thu, 1 May 97 11:45:01 EDT
  From:   pierson-at-ggone.ENET.dec-dot-com
    To:       
mail11:;;;;;-at-us4rmc.pko.dec-dot-com-at-us4rmc.pko.dec-dot-com-at-unknown.pupman-dot-com;;;;;;;;
(-at-teslatech)
    CC: 
        pierson-at-ggone.ENET.dec-dot-com


>> My Tesla coil is set up in a school building which has the steel girder
>> frame very typical of institutional buildings.  Instead of sinking copper
>> pipes into the ground, couldn't I just attach my ground wire to these steel
>> girders?  It seems the same idea to me, but possibly there is some aspect
>> of this idea I don't see.  I don't want to blow up any computers in the
>> building, for instance.
        Hard to say.  Yes the structure is tied together.  It may or may
not
        be tied to ground, or tied to ground _well_.

        Basically, there is NO way to guarantee an answer to this
question.
        Where its an issue (certain classes of construction) the
designers
        get paid big money to get the bonding right.

>Aaron steel is a lousy conductor compared to copper!
        Actually, at RF, its not that different, esp since the conductor
        size (I Beams, here) is large & most of the current is in the
        skin.

>on the outlet you use to power your coil there is three prongs
        Maybe yes, maybe no.  For a modern building, probably yes.

>one for hot another for return ground and a third round one for safety ground
>USE IT! 
        IF its grounded.

>There is a good conducting copper path to an already established good 
>ground through the safety ground.
        IF its grounded.  I've seen 'several' where it was not.  I've
been
        bit by several where it was not.  (And i've fixed em...)

>It is required in all 50 states as  part of the Utility code.
        And implemented by human beings, so subject to failure.  If,
        ferinstance, another device is sharing the _ground_ from the
outlet,
        and the _ground_ is not tied back properly, the RF may leak to
        'ground' through the other device, with damaging results.

        (Been there, done that, with a TC, when i took someone else's
word for
        how something was grounded.)

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In passing, it appears the something in the mail realy is trimming 80
character lines to 70, or so...)

        regards
        dwp