[TCML] Questions

[jimlux]

nancylavoie at comcast.net wrote:
> Hi, I was wondering what the lowest feasible operating frequency of any given coil might be and if there is any place in tesla coiling for the use of quartz crystals in the tank oscillator? Happened to be glancing at some old literature on transmitters and started getting ideas. Wyatt
> 

People have built coils operating in the 10s of kHz.  No real reason why 
you couldn't go lower.. decades ago, resonance transformers operating at 
multiples of the line frequency (e.g. at 360Hz) were used in HV power 
supplies for X-ray tubes and the like.

As for quartz crystals.  Probably not.  The Q of a typical TC is fairly 
low (10-15?) so the frequency precision isn't needed.  And, in fact, as 
the spark develops, the resonant frequency actually decreases because of 
the increased capacitive load.