Re: without wires?

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

Original poster: "Charles Brush" <cfbrush-at-interport-dot-net> 


>
>
>I'm tempted to question the notion of "better conduction" than copper
>wire, especially at sub-auroral heights. Certainly the discharges
>have a negative resistance characteristic but that doesn't imply they
>lose less power over a given distance. In fact sparks (and glow
>discharges) dissipate power quite effectively.
>
>Malcolm


I always got the impression that sparks were not what Tesla was after and 
the idea was to charge a large terminal to a very high potential with no 
breakout.  He created big sparks for experimental purposes and to wow the 
public, but that did not seem to be the mode of operation for power 
transmission.  I also think that the "Hertzian" vs. "non-Hertzian" is 
basically a way of saying electromagnetic vs. electrostatic.  In his 
patents he talks about how his systems could be optimized for either 
mode.  Presumably adding a huge topload would skew things more toward the 
electrostatic....i.e. a big isoptropic capacitance charged to millions of 
volts and oscillating at very high frequencies.    I sure wish he could 
have gotten Wardenclyffe running so that we had some idea of what he was up to.

Zap!

Charles Brush