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Re: Arc Impedance Study



Hi Terry,
           First off, kudos on your research and results! Love it!

> Original Poster: Terry Fritz <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com>
> 
> At 07:56 PM 10/9/98 -0700, you wrote:
> snip>
> >> It seems to favor the positive peaks somewhat.  I will have to look at
this
> >> specifically this weekend to really see if that is true.
> >
> >Mine favors the pos peaks as well, which agrees with 
> >the published literature on polarity preferences of 
> >sphere-to-plate spark gaps.
> >
> snip>
> 
> Hi Greg,
> 
> Mine definitely favors positive spikes as well (scope photo is at -
> www.peakpeak-dot-com/~terryf/tesla/misc/spikes.jpg ).  They have a sharp rise
> to about twice the normal level and then ramp back more gently.  Each one
> (there are usually many in a peak) lasts about 200-300 nS.  There are
> negative spikes too but the positive ones are much more prevalent.  They
> appear to very much like the ones in your electrum photos both in relative
> scale and timing.  Does anyone know why they like to arc on the positive
> peaks??

A thought for what it's worth - that electric field polarity, intense 
as it is strips electrons from the air molecules and attracts them to 
the terminal while repelling the resulting ions.

?
Malcolm