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Basic question regarding grounding

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LAN_403

the-ownage

Wed Jun 01 2011, 12:29PM

Registered Member #3921 Joined: Wed Jun 01 2011, 01:40AM
Location: Fergus Falls, MN
Posts: 1

Hello. Iâ€™m a first time poster and quite inexperienced with Tesla Coil technology at this point. I have been sporadically reading around this forum for about a year and am very impressed with this communityâ€”it is a pleasure to have the attention of such Tesla enthusiasts.

As I continue to educate myself, I would really appreciate if anyone could answer a very basic question of mine. If what Iâ€™d like to do is possible, it would be awesome if I could be given some direction in that regard.

Most of what Iâ€™d like to ask right now is how exactly electrical grounding relates to the toroidâ€™s sparks. Letâ€™s just say, for example, I wanted to create a Tesla Coil that would perform to the following two criteria:

1. Can I have the leader sparks target non-grounded objectsâ€”letâ€™s say a hummingbird for demonstration because hummingbirds arenâ€™t electrically grounded, so say I put this Tesla Coil by a hummingbird feeder in attempt to target free-floating hummingbirds

2. Can I have the powered Tesla Coil output sparks â€œonlyâ€ if a hummingbird comes in a close enough proximity (in reach of the sparks) and then discontinue spark output when the hummingbird falls or flies out of reach

Obviously know I would never kill a hummingbird; this is only to help me understand the concept of grounding in relation to the discharge location. I am most interested in the first criteria concept above; the second is more out of curiosity, but there are more to come; I just want to take this one step at a time.

Thank you!

Proud Mary

Wed Jun 01 2011, 08:26PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

the-ownage wrote ...

Can I have the leader sparks target non-grounded objectsâ€”letâ€™s say a hummingbird for demonstration because hummingbirds arenâ€™t electrically grounded, so say I put this Tesla Coil by a hummingbird feeder in attempt to target free-floating hummingbirds

2. Can I have the powered Tesla Coil output sparks â€œonlyâ€ if a hummingbird comes in a close enough proximity (in reach of the sparks) and then discontinue spark output when the hummingbird falls or flies out of reach

Is there no legislation against cruelty to animals where you live?

doctor electrons

Wed Jun 01 2011, 09:39PM

Registered Member #2390 Joined: Sat Sept 26 2009, 02:04PM
Location: Milwaukee Wisconsin
Posts: 381

Proud Mary wrote ...

Is there no legislation against cruelty to animals where you live?

Hummingbirds are cool!

Anyhow! The arcs from the toroid are trying to reach ground. Remember that! If the arc were to strike an ungrounded target no real damage would
occur. This is the reason (well one of the reasons) the guys you see on television in chain mail suits are uninjured when drawing arcs from their coils.
If an object ( i seriously suggest nothing living, at least anything with eyeballs ) were to come between the toroid and a ground point, or other
point that produced an easy path to ground..... The result could be very bad, even deadly. That includes you to!! These things are not toys, they
are dangerous and to be taken very seriously.
Most of all!!!!!
Safety is number one, that includes the safety of all the critters flying around your neighborhood, cats, dogs, bugs, birds, dinosaurs, fish, and little
old ladies with walkers.
A productive use would be to invite your friends over and electrocute some hot dogs! Close enough to a bbq for me!!

The second thing you are asking about.. That sounds a lot like Teslas "death ray" Which was never built. I saw some of the real
patents for it when i was in the Navy. It involved using an antenna to measure the change an object caused in the resonance of
a very large coil. It would then activate the large coil when the resonance could be adjusted into that range, causing the coil to
arc to the object. It is a little more complicated that that, quite a bit actually. It can be done but i wont be the one to tell you
how.

Happy coiling and welcome to 4hv, you will surely learn a lot here!! After all,,, Quite a few of the masters call this home!!

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