Re: COOL STUFF YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR COIL!

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <Tesla729-at-cs-dot-com>

In a message dated 1/29/01 6:43:54 PM Pacific Standard Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

Drew,
Chris stated:

<< I would suggest reading the safety sheet at www.pupman-dot-com, All of those 
<  things are EXTREMELY dangerous, and I suspect that you are lucky that you 
<  weren't hurt. The pros take arcs and become part of their coils, but they 
are 
 < just that--professionals, who know how to do it, and have their safety in 
<  mind. Please don't kill or injure yourself on your coil. It takes all the 
fun 
< out of it. Thoughts, anyone??
 
 < Chris W >>
  
I've got agree with Chris on this one. Some of the old text on Tesla
coils will state that some of these tricks that you described are per-
fectly safe, but today we know that's just not true!

Also, Scot stated:
< the latest results have proven that skin effect is no longer viable with
< humans ( or anything alive) the
< voltages / currents flow thru the body -   not over the surface   in other
< words  ...   this can hurt you
< or even worse kill you...

and this is very true. Instead of traveling over the relatively high 
resistance
of the outer surface of your skin, the HV would much rather travel thru the
much more conductive blood vesels and nerves underneath the skin! Yes,
even the higher frequency voltages of a Tesla coil prefer these same channels
thru the body.The "skin effect" only applies to conductors whose surface
is at least, if not more so, as conductive as its interior. If RF goes through
a rubber insulated copper wire, it's not going to go thru the outer rubber in-
sulation instead of thru the copper wire is it? RF conductors are often silver
plated copper wires and silver is an even better conductor than copper.

Tesla coils are amazing and educational devices, but you must remember
to respect the dangerous voltages that they readily produce.

Keep 'em sparkin', but safely,
David Rieben