Decorative electrodeless plasma tubes for sale / Sale and Trade / Forums

Forums

4hv.org :: Forums :: Sale and Trade

« Previous topic | Next topic »

Decorative electrodeless plasma tubes for sale

Move Thread

LAN_403

Carl A. Willis

Sat Apr 20 2013, 08:21PM

Registered Member #9640 Joined: Wed Jan 16 2013, 07:53AM
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Posts: 26

Hi guys,

I've done a lot of experiments with plasma tubes recently (see my threads in the General Science and Electronics forum), and I have organized a little online store to make the excess available to people interested in them:

The most common question I get is about suitable power supplies. I provide answers to that and some other matters in the FAQ in my Etsy store's "Policies" tab, but certainly those folks already equipped with a Tesla coil of some kind have this issue taken care of.

Each item features its own YouTube video, which is a better way to experience and judge than the still photos. It's not embedded; just find the URL in the item description.

-Carl

Sigurthr

Sat Apr 20 2013, 09:21PM

Registered Member #4463 Joined: Wed Apr 18 2012, 08:08AM
Location: MI's Upper Peninsula
Posts: 597

Holy awesomeness of physics!

You rock Carl! Two tubes purchased.

Since you're now set up for sale of tubes I'd like to request you try the Xe + O2 tube I proposed earlier in the electrodeless discharge tube thread. The goal is a diffuse white glow. Zrg recently had some success with this but using a different gas mixture and only while using a HF induction based ionization system. I prefer the "nubless" 500ml flasks or long tubes with rounded edges - less structural weak spots and more uniform charge density to prevent punchthroughs.

Carl A. Willis

Mon Apr 22 2013, 11:11PM

Registered Member #9640 Joined: Wed Jan 16 2013, 07:53AM
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Posts: 26

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your patronage. Please do let me know how the tubes perform for you and with what equipment. I'm always interested in expanding my capabilities and getting better effects.

I have tried Xe + O2 mixtures, but have sealed no tubes with these mixes. It's difficult to make good photos of everything I try, so I don't have any pics to share. These mixtures tend to show the bluish-tinged brief afterglow of oxygen. They are hard to start and not very bright. It is quite possible that the color at high current density tends toward a diffuse white; I have not tried exciting these mixes with a high-powered 27 MHz power supply or in a microwave oven, but other tubes that produce nice colors at low current densities, for instance the Xe-N2 mixes, generate white discharges under the influence of the very high fields produced by these RF sources. (The tubes probably cannot withstand continuous operation from either of these sources due to heating.)

Your tubes are on their way via UPS, by the way.

Best regards,
Carl

Sigurthr

Tue Apr 23 2013, 02:33AM

Registered Member #4463 Joined: Wed Apr 18 2012, 08:08AM
Location: MI's Upper Peninsula
Posts: 597

My pleasure! These are some astonishingly beautiful tubes you have created! (and only about half the price I paid for each of my three other tubes as well!) I just couldn't let the opportunity pass by.

I'll be using my large CW SSTC for these, though I am considering making a power supply like yours that can run for long periods of time (and not knock out the household internet, haha). Problem has always been finding a nonrectified HV transformer, still can't get my hands on one inexpensively, especially since Information Unlimited jacked up their prices to obscene levels. Unfortunately I don't have the HF equipment that ZRG has, and I'm not willing to risk a tube in my microwave unless I wouldn't mind if it exploded.

Thanks for trying the Xe O2 mixes, I appreciate your efforts. It was a long shot, going off anecdotal second hand information. The only reason I thought it might work was that O2's spectral lines do span enough to potentially appear white, and the one time I saw an O2 spectrum tube it did appear white inside the capillary. Interesting about the afterglow though, that is something I'd like to see one day.

Would you be interested in trying a Kr + N tube with traces of Bromine? The aim would be an effect similar to your Kr + I tubes where there is a slow moving central filament surrounded by a diffuse glow. I'm hoping for a more enhanced <500nm color profile. I'm not sure what the larger partial gas would need to be (Kr or N), all the elements involved have strong lines in the 410-450 region. That is the reason I say Bromine instead of Iodine, which has most of its strong lines >500nm.

I am curious, did you do any experimenting with high pressure Neon? Say in the 200-500 Torr region? No one seems to know why my high pressure neon tube exhibits a white filament and only orange feathering on the edges. There is even significant UV output from the filament, which no one seems to be able to reproduce as well.

Carl A. Willis

Tue Apr 23 2013, 05:49AM

Registered Member #9640 Joined: Wed Jan 16 2013, 07:53AM
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Posts: 26

Hi Matt,

I posted a video link to some demonstration and discussion of high-pressure neon tubes over in my earlier technical thread about plasma stuff.

There is one likely problem with using bromine with a Kr and N2 fill, which is chemical reactivity. I would expect bromine to react with nitrogen in the discharge. My mixtures containing iodine and nitrogen, and iodine and oxygen, form solid condensates when the discharge is passed. The oxygen compound is quite stable, washes off the glass in water, forming an acid solution. The nitrogen compound doesn't seem persistent or recoverable outside the tube, but its aerosol clouds the gas volume for some time and arouses my concern. In any case, you can expect the nitrogen to participate in complex afterglow chemistry with just about anything present, resulting in a very complex and unpredictable optical emission spectrum. That is part of the fun, of course.

-Carl

Sigurthr

Tue Apr 23 2013, 07:13AM

Registered Member #4463 Joined: Wed Apr 18 2012, 08:08AM
Location: MI's Upper Peninsula
Posts: 597

I am surprised you attempted N + I, Nitrogen Triiodide is a high explosive - another reason why I suggested bromine instead.

Hmm, precipitation is worrysome. In any event I would love to see what Kr + N does, perhaps with Ar or O added in if Br is not an option. Complex afterglows interest me greatly.

Moderator(s): Chris Russell, Noelle, Alex, Tesladownunder, Dave Marshall, Dave Billington, Bjørn, Steve Conner, Wolfram, Kizmo, Mads Barnkob