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Registered Member #1034
Joined: Sat Sept 29 2007, 12:50PM
Location: Chillicothe, Ohio
Posts: 154
Just thought you all might enjoy this picture. It is my VTTC discharging though a Quarts tube filled with argon gas at well below atmospheric pressure.
The discharge is thin and wiggles around. Further reduction in pressure causes the discharge to get wider on till it fills the whole tube.
Registered Member #561
Joined: Sat Mar 03 2007, 02:46AM
Location: Adelaide Australia
Posts: 230
Nice coil, Interesting experiment. I should try that with my crappy coil (it's made or scrap copper wire and a few doorknob caps) I haven't got any better coils
Registered Member #1034
Joined: Sat Sept 29 2007, 12:50PM
Location: Chillicothe, Ohio
Posts: 154
Thanks for all the complements. So far I have played around with helium, air, CO2, freon, and argon. Argon is the only gas that I can get to create the snake like discharge. The other gases have slightly different color effects.
I would like to get a hold of some neon but It can be a little pricey.
Registered Member #160
Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 02:07AM
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 938
Great work Roger! Do you have any photos of the discharges at lower pressure? Very nice coil too, love the primary. Is that three 811s you are using there? Where is the quartz tube from? Good work.
Registered Member #1389
Joined: Thu Mar 13 2008, 12:50AM
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 346
I used a flyback transformer to play with a DC arc in a xenon tube and got a snake-like arc such as the one you're seeing in argon. I think the issue with the other gases may be the amount of current you are able to pass through the xenon. With an extremely low amperage CW (with limiting resistor), I got eerie green forked sparks, but with a much higher (relatively) current CW, I got a bluish tube-filling glow. The even higher current flyback (single transistor driver ~5kV) put out a nice white snake similar to the one in your picture.
Also, try bringing a lead from either end and wrapping it around the center of the tube. I have found in small experiments that it changes the nature of the arc quite a bit, and each lead changes it differently.
Registered Member #1034
Joined: Sat Sept 29 2007, 12:50PM
Location: Chillicothe, Ohio
Posts: 154
did you do seal those ends on the tube yourself or did it come like that.
The tube is out of an old copy machine. It is open on both ends so I had to make end caps for it that seal with "O" rings.
Do you have any photos of the discharges at lower pressure? Very nice coil too, love the primary. Is that three 811s you are using there? Where is the quartz tube from?
The VTTC uses 3 811 tubes. I will try to get some more pictures latter.
I think the issue with the other gases may be the amount of current you are able to pass through the xenon. With an extremely low amperage CW (with limiting resistor), I got eerie green forked sparks, but with a much higher (relatively) current CW, I got a bluish tube-filling glow. The even higher current flyback (single transistor driver ~5kV) put out a nice white snake similar to the one in your picture.
I have also driven the tube with high voltage DC and get different effects with it. The discharge at the anode end will look a lot different than the cathode end.
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VTTC Discharge in Argon
Handsome coil too, BTW.
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