Ac Spark Length: General Guidelines

[Fullhawking]

Is there a general rule of thumb for ac spark length?

 

[chroot]

Are you asking something like "what's the breakdown voltage of a given space in air?"

- Warren

 

[Artman]

There is a relationship between the voltage and the length of the spark, it is also effected by the surrounding gas (air) pressure.

Here is a site that gives some mathematical equations, statistics and graphs showing the relationships.

http://www.kronjaeger.com/hv/hv/msr/spk/

 

[Fullhawking]

I build a small tesla coil that produces about 12" sparks. I don't have a way to measure the voltage so I am looking for an approximate spark length to voltage conversion.

 

[Artman]

I think the rule of thumb varies with several factors: the number of windings in your coils, the transformer, wire thickness, primary spark gap settings, etc. But I read somewhere that for a medium sized unit the rule of thumb is something like 8.5 Kv per inch, this sounds possible for yours, 8.5 x 12 would put you at about 102,000 volts, a little low for a tesla coil, but possible I think.

There are several internet sites that deal with calculating this voltage based on the various factors directly associated with your Tesla Coil.

Here is one:

http://hometown.aol.com/futuret/page5.html