Re: Spark-gap sparks vs. solid-state sparks

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <acmq-at-compuland-dot-com.br>

Tesla list wrote:
 
> Original poster: "Kennan C Herrick by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <kcha1-at-juno-dot-com>

>...
> To pursue the ion/heat question, what I intend to do is to vary the
> inter-spark duration, as I wrote, & see what happens.  And also, perhaps
> to arrange a test to blow air rapidly across a break-out ball (using that
> to confine the spark locus) to see whether in doing so I can cause the
> e-field to rise noticeably, between the mini-sparks, as viewed on the
> scope.  That would support my hot-air theory.  (Don't know if I've put
> that quite right; oh well...)
>...

The idea that hot air promotes the formation of longer sparks is surely
true. Just try to apply the hot air from a hair drier to a spark gap
that is not firing. It's really very probable that the heat left in the
air by a spark is much more important than residual ions in making
subsequent sparks follow the same path. A spark channel doesn't even
have to contain (permanently) ionized molecules. The heat is enough to
keep the current passing, with electrons jumping from one molecule to
the next, driven by relatively small electric field, without any 
significant net charge in the spark channel.

Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz