Re: Getting brave.

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Mddeming@xxxxxxx 

In a message dated 10/11/06 1:51:22 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
tesla@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
Original poster: "Glen McGowan" <glen.mcgowan@xxxxxxxxx>

Letting the 900W coil arc to a florescent light bulb
(tube)?  Do's?  Don'ts?   I'd rather not be the shortest distance to ground.


Hi Glen,
Tube will light without being hit, just being close to the field is 
enough to make it glow. You might get away with a strike for a few 
times, but I would not hold one. Even if you attach the end you are 
holding to a ground wire, you are still a moderate resistance in 
parallel with that wire and will enjoy some share of the current. 
Even standing on an insulated surface, it's a dielectric and your 
feet look like capacitor plates w/respect to earth. Should you be 
lucky enough to get a concurrent primary strike, you will definitely 
have hot toasted buns. ;((
IMO, an operating coil is best enjoyed as a spectator sport, not an 
interactive one.

Matt D.
Cautious perhaps, but still alive without nerve damage after 60+ years