Re: Fanciful spark-augmenter

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

Original poster: "Scott Fulks by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <darkthing-at-earthlink-dot-net>

Ken Herrick wrote:
> there remained a question about the Q of my fanciful apparatus.
> I made a quick measurement today:
<snip>
> With a .03 uF capacitor the Q was ~18 and with a .07 uF one, 16:
> essentially the same.

I think there is something I am not understanding about this design.  You
mentioned a ring-up frequency of 140 kHz or so for your solid-state
oscillator.  With a Q of 18 you'll reach maximum charge on the cap after
about 18 cycles, or 128 microseconds.  If your gap fires at every maximum,
you'll need a gap rate of nearly 7800 BPS!  Is it possible to quench a gap
this fast?

Regards,
Scott Fulks (darkthing-at-earthlink-dot-net)