Radioactive Tesla coil breakoff point.
Thomas W, Mon Oct 13 2014, 09:37AMHello all,
Recently I have been speculating upon a certain idea. After watching a YouTube video of someone placing a radioactive element near a spark gap and getting it to fire due to the ionizing radiation. I was curious. How would this work when it came to a tesla coil breakout point. Could there be any interesting effects?
More interesting, if you put an actual pointy breakout pin on one side of a tesla coil, and a small radioactive isotope on the other, which will it choose to arc from?
I don't actually have a tesla coil (yet) or said radioactive isotope, but I'm sure a few of you out there have both! Would anyone be interested in giving it a try?
Regards,
Thomas
Re: Radioactive Tesla coil breakoff point.
dexter, Mon Oct 13 2014, 10:52AM
it all depends on how much and what type of radiation that isotope emits because so far a pointy breakout is well capable of ionizing the air.
dexter, Mon Oct 13 2014, 10:52AM
it all depends on how much and what type of radiation that isotope emits because so far a pointy breakout is well capable of ionizing the air.
Re: Radioactive Tesla coil breakoff point.
Sulaiman, Mon Oct 13 2014, 12:02PM
Unless you want radioactive dust floating around, I would NOT try it !
Sulaiman, Mon Oct 13 2014, 12:02PM
Unless you want radioactive dust floating around, I would NOT try it !
Re: Radioactive Tesla coil breakoff point.
Steve Conner, Mon Oct 13 2014, 12:48PM
You could try a thoriated tungsten TIG welding electrode, but I doubt the improvement would be worth the risk of radioactive dust.
Steve Conner, Mon Oct 13 2014, 12:48PM
You could try a thoriated tungsten TIG welding electrode, but I doubt the improvement would be worth the risk of radioactive dust.
Re: Radioactive Tesla coil breakoff point.
Sigurthr, Mon Oct 13 2014, 04:45PM
Ditto on Sulaiman's point.
Also, I have tried thoriated tig electrodes as breakout points, and they work fine, but perform no better than non-radioactive breakouts. The reason being is that the thoriation helps with thermionic emission and arc stabilization at DC, not at arc initiation. I chose the WTh electrodes because they're cheap and my steel electrodes were oxidizing and rusting once they got hot from multi-kW runs.
The level of radiation you need to achieve air ionization is dangerous. That's what the original measurement of radiation, Roentgens, was - measurement of degree of ionization of air. Also, you have to choose the isotope for its decay method, as each decay method has a different ionization coefficient and a different mean-free-path in air. Again, it's quite a futile endeavor due to safety hazards and negligible benefits.
Sigurthr, Mon Oct 13 2014, 04:45PM
Ditto on Sulaiman's point.
Also, I have tried thoriated tig electrodes as breakout points, and they work fine, but perform no better than non-radioactive breakouts. The reason being is that the thoriation helps with thermionic emission and arc stabilization at DC, not at arc initiation. I chose the WTh electrodes because they're cheap and my steel electrodes were oxidizing and rusting once they got hot from multi-kW runs.
The level of radiation you need to achieve air ionization is dangerous. That's what the original measurement of radiation, Roentgens, was - measurement of degree of ionization of air. Also, you have to choose the isotope for its decay method, as each decay method has a different ionization coefficient and a different mean-free-path in air. Again, it's quite a futile endeavor due to safety hazards and negligible benefits.
Re: Radioactive Tesla coil breakoff point.
dexter, Mon Oct 13 2014, 04:54PM
What about something similar to a active lightning rod?
Not that would worth the hassle but it would be much safe than radioactive ionization...
dexter, Mon Oct 13 2014, 04:54PM
What about something similar to a active lightning rod?
Not that would worth the hassle but it would be much safe than radioactive ionization...
Re: Radioactive Tesla coil breakoff point.
Thomas W, Mon Oct 13 2014, 07:29PM
Ah okey then, well i guess it was an interesting thought anyway....
Thomas W, Mon Oct 13 2014, 07:29PM
Ah okey then, well i guess it was an interesting thought anyway....
Re: Radioactive Tesla coil breakoff point.
Conundrum, Thu Dec 18 2014, 08:10PM
UV laser?
Conundrum, Thu Dec 18 2014, 08:10PM
UV laser?
Re: Radioactive Tesla coil breakoff point.
Shrad, Fri Dec 19 2014, 07:58AM
or even UV led, it held at topload potential
Shrad, Fri Dec 19 2014, 07:58AM
or even UV led, it held at topload potential
Re: Radioactive Tesla coil breakoff point.
klugesmith, Sat Dec 20 2014, 01:50AM
Here's a radiation-triggered spark display like the one mentioned in OP.
Here's a similar setup with no response to a thoriated TIG electrode, after good action with a known alpha source.
klugesmith, Sat Dec 20 2014, 01:50AM
Here's a radiation-triggered spark display like the one mentioned in OP.
Here's a similar setup with no response to a thoriated TIG electrode, after good action with a known alpha source.
Print this page