Re: Then what's the topload FOR?

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

Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>
> 
> >
> > > But streamer formation takes place in *far* less time than the time
> > > per cycle of oscillation.
> >
> >         That's not my experience here.  When I first power up a
> (relatively low
> > power) coil the streamers sometimes appear to build up over a period
> > which seems like a second or more.
> 
> Indeed.. but what you're seeing might be a large scale manifestation of
> lots of small scale very fast things. Individual streamers/leaders/sparks
> might grow and shrink on a microsecond time scale, but your visual response
> is much slower, so what you perceive as gradually growing streamers might
> very well be a succession of ever longer streamers that last a much shorter
> time.

	Could be, as I have no way of observing the effect, but I suspect that
the streamers conduct along their whole length and, when enough power is
present, eventually form nice hot arcs.  I notice that Tesla's first
"wireless power" patent includes a statement to the effect that the
streamers spread "gradually".

Ed