Residual toroid charge?

To: "'Tesla List'" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Residual toroid charge?
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 02:36:07 -0600
Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net

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From:  Bill the arcstarter [SMTP:arcstarter-at-hotmail-dot-com]
Sent:  Sunday, March 22, 1998 11:05 PM
To:  hollmike-at-aol-dot-com; tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject:  Residual toroid charge?

Hi Mike, fellow coilers!
 Some comments about what you recently sent to tesla-at-pupman:
You wrote:
>    I have been reading all the arguments about this final charge left 
on the
> secondary.   Many have said that this cannot happen due to the low DC
> resistance to ground, but one notion came to mind:  As the amplitude 
of the
> output decays, there is some point where it dies out before the next 
bang.
> Being that there is a large inductor that resists the change in 
current, could
> it be possible that a small amount of charge be left in the toroid due 
to it
> not having enough potential energy to overcome the inductive reactance 
on that
> last current reversal before it dies out?  This, if possible, could 
store a
> minute amount of energy until the next bang.  I can't think of any way 
to test
> this notion, but thought I'd put it forward anyway.
> Mike Hollingsworth

I wouldn't think so since the steady state solution of any R-L-C circuit 
results in 0.00 volts across the inductor, and 0 current as well.  Yes - 
the inductor does resist the change in current, but current does flow, 
energy is dissipated (mostly in the resistor), and the current 
eventually dies off and the voltage goes to zero.

But, having just said this - the fact remains that some people observe a 
residual charge!

 My only thought is that this could be a "static" charge induced into 
the PVC form.  I base this upon the observation that occasionally I've 
been shocked by a freshly-run secondary due to this (static?) charge.  
We have no common (ohmic) path between the secondary and the primary.  
Perhaps this "shock" involves the capacitive coupling between myself and 
the toroid, and doesn't involve a return path at all, but merely the 
transfer of electrons from the toroid to me!  Kind of like, in 
electrostatics, touching one charged body to an uncharged body - there 
is no return path for those electrons.

Comments welcome!  This is the best I can do!
-Bill the arcstarter
Starting arcs in Cinci, OH
http://www.geocities-dot-com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/6160