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Sparking behavior and a magnifier question



>>>
>     One last thing.  I took some pictures of the streamers
> with my camcorder this evening, and on playing them back slow
> motion got the impression (it might have been due to stroboscopic
> beats between spark frequency and camera frame rate) that I could
> streamers grow, disappear, and reappear in some other place.  Any
> thoughts or comments?

Exactly what I've observed. Richard Quick's video was extremely 
revealing in this regard and basically bore out what I'd been 
thinking. The stretch per frame (per mains cycle) was almost
constant.

<<<<
This reminds me of a little experiment that I tried a couple weeks ago.
I was using a spinner for "theatric" effect, and then decided to take
the rotor off, leaving a sharpened point sitting in the center of the 
toroid. One could probably use a 16d nail and a washer or nut to hold
it up.  The streamers coming off the point were very interesting.  
Instead of the "normal" off the toroid streamers, the streamers exhibited
a strobing effect, much like you would see in some lightning pictures.



Magnifier question(s):
If I have a 1/4 wave secondary coil that resonates at frequency f, and wanted
to use it in a magnifier setup, do I drive it at f, or f/2?  I thought 
I heard that it was f/2 once from Richard Quick.

The other question is: If a magnifier is basically a base driven resonator(?)
and it is driven at a specific frequency that causes it to resonate,
and a tesla tank circuit oscillates at a frequency, then why not make a 
tank circuit and electrically connect it to the base of a secondary from 
a 1/4 wave coil?  _____
   ________      (_____)
  |        |        3
 ===       -at-        3 
  |___Z____|________3

Z -- spark gap
-at- -- primary L
=== -- primary C


The only difference between this setup and another (tried) tesla setup is that
the secondary is not nestled within the primary, but is a ways away.
Assuming that the primary tank circuit is tuned to the correct frequency
(see question 1), would you see any resonance or magnifier action?
Actually, if I new the answer to 1, I could experiment on 2.

Chip