Re: RE: Presentation

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

Original poster: "Matt Woody Meyer by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <meyerml-at-stolaf.edu>

OK, I need to share this one... it probably won't work as well since I'm
assuming 
yours is not a "new coil" like mine when I did my demonstration, but this was 
still fun.  I had built a coil for an advanced E&M physics project (sem II, 
junior year).

While building the coil, another major was so convinced that it would fail 
miserably, that he bet me a pint of beer for every 3" of arc length I was
able to 
achieve.  Our school is a dry campus, and I am on reslife staff, therefore, he 
could not simply buy me a case for $15 if I got big arcs... instead, he would 
have to take me down to a bar in town and buy me pints of the beer of my
choice 
(which happens to be Guinness, at $4.50 a pint).

I made this bet very clear before the presentation, and rigged up a "lightning 
stick" that consists of a nail through the end of a long piece of wood, wired 
directly to ground (not house ground!!!).  I put a breakout point on the coil 
pointing at the rod, and had a ruler on the ground where I could slide the
stick 
back between runs until the arcs no longer connected to the nail.  I was
able to 
get 36" that night (have done better since) which equates to a gallon and a
half 
of beer, or a $54 payout.  Strangely enough, he never paid up.

To really get the crowd on your side in a similar bet, offer to share the
payout 
as I did (since there is no way I could drink that much beer... especially 
Guinness!)  It was a great feeling to have a crowd of nearly 100 students
around 
egging on the coil to connect to the nail, and then getting a roar from them 
(literally) after it makes it and a standing ovation afterwards.

And, if anybody knows a Lee Wignall from Northfield, MN. and has mob
connections, 
please have his kneecaps broken for me for not paying up. ;)

><>Matt

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Matt "Woody" Meyer                  St. Olaf College Physics Major