[TCML] Re: multi-section primary gap effects, was: TC Newbie

[FIFTYGUY at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/10/08 10:51:03 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
bartb at classictesla.com writes:

>With  a 2 gap setup, both air space on each side of the center electrode 
become  conductive at 
>the same time when the gap fires. It's not a leap frog  affect across the 
gap in the way that your >describing. 

    Is it really?
    After all, we have no problem with streamers from  the topload growing, 
or starting from nearby objects, or even growing from the  middle of the 
distance outwards (or extinguishing the same way). The primary gap  is also pulsed 
high voltage RF - might it not also behave just as  "strangely"?
    I've got photos of the Jacob's ladder from my pole  pig in which the arc 
extinguishes in sections, little wisps of the previous arc  are still floating 
in the gap while the new arc is starting. Would it be  too far-fetched to 
believe that those little wisps are more conductive than the  rest of the air in 
the gap, and thus if they were to exist across a single  section of a 
multi-section gap, that section would glow either first or the  brightest?
    You also mentioned uneven heating of different gap  sections - if one 
section starts to conduct a little more frequently, and gets  the tips of its 
electrodes glowing from the heat, wouldn't we expect that  section to conduct 
first?
    I realize that current has to flow through the  entire gap at the same 
time, but there may be a subjective effect where the part  of the gap that 
responds with the lowest resistance or quickest breakdown might  glow much more 
brightly than other gap sections, thus giving the illusion that  the current is 
"leapfrogging" the gaps.
 

-Phil LaBudde
Center for the Advanced Study of Ballistic  Improbabilities
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