RE: What IS special about a Tesla coil?

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: RE: What IS special about a Tesla coil?
From: "sundog" <sundog-at-timeship-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 12:05:51 -0600
Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme


Hmm...what's special about a TC...
  I love a challenge.  I scubadive, I dirtbike (like a man possesed), I
generally love life & live it large.  A TC holds mystique to me, a puzzle
that I *know* is beyond my understanding.  I don't so much do it for the
math, nor the intrigue of the science...I do it 'cause in all honesty, I
love to see the streamers (even on my tiny 1.5x5" crapola coil, barely 2"
sparks) branching off.  The ozone, the noise, and the personal satisaction
of throwin' the switch and it explodes to life.  To me, it's the beauty, the
challenge, and the fear of what I have created.  Sure, 2" sparks are
laughable.  But so was stalling my 80cc dirtbike all the time a few years
ago when I was a novice -at- that.  Now I launch my 125cc dirtbike like a
ballistic missile.  Craked the swingarm once already, trying for a second
time, but I digress.

  What's so special about it...I believe it's different for everybody.  For
me, it's yet another opportinuty to be Livin' Large!

Laters 										Sundog
-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla List [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2000 10:14 AM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: What IS special about a Tesla coil?


Original Poster: "tesla" <tesla-at-cyberverse-dot-com>

<SNIP>
Noah, If terry and Bob would digress, and let me, a fellow lurker attempt to
answer this question, (even though I am NO Nikola Tesla, I feel somewhat
qualified to answer THIS question.) :)

I believe that Tesla might be dismissive of the Tesla group, period. Oh yes.
he *might* find some inner fascination with a bunch of guys trying to better
his genius at building coils, but Tesla's personality was to not look back.
I think  that making the tesla coil was mostly a means to an end for him.
(Yes, I do remember that he did find lightning fascinating.) However, in
today's world, I suspect that he would find everything changed enough to go
into a whole new line of research.

Gene


> Dear Terry and Bob,
> Following your e-conversations is a great educational experience for a
novice
> coiler, but it's like sneaking into a lecture on tensor calculus when
you've
> only just completed algebra one! I want to assure you that I, at least one
of
> your gallant fellow coilers here on the list, am not an electrical (nor
any
> other) engineer - and if I did have  a functional Tek scope at this stage
of my
> coiling - oh, coiling were Paradise enow! (Pardon my inexcusable literary
> allusion - it's my poor defense against the swarming masses of you-all
> engineering geniuses). But a central and pivotal question jumped out at me
in
> the most recent cited interchange; I think Bob asks: "WHAT IS SPECIAL
ABOUT A
> TESLA COIL?"  Yes!  Isn't that what all coiling is about, after you get
through
> the cow manure, the horse manure, and the rabbit tracks through it?
[Credit for
> that colorful reference to an old desert rat (who died several years later
[snippers!]