Lexicon
ASRSG
ASynchronous Rotary Spark Gap

Breakout
This is the voltage where a streamer or arc starts to form

Classical Physics
Classical Physics is the physics up to the Thoery of Relativity. If you dont know what kind of physics you studied, it was classical physics. John Wheeler taught a freshman college physics course that started with the Theory of Relativity and commenced to describe the whole of classical physics as a condition of relativity. His wild approach was quickly suppressed.

Coiler
One of us. A person who plays (works) with Tesla coils.

CW(TC)
Continuous Wave Tesla Coil, usually powered by tubes or transistors.

DWC
Disruptive Wave Coil, a spark gap powered Tesla Coil.

Feynman, Richard
Richard Feynman (???-???) American physicist and Nobel Laureate whose pioneering work in quantum electrodynamics is the basis of our current understanding. Feynman's original and creative approach was tempered by a wry sense of humor. "he believed in the primacy of doubt, not as a blemish on our ability to know, but as the essence of knowing."

Former
The secondary coil form, the tube the secondary wire is wrapped onto.

Grote Reber
Grote Reber (1911-2???) a ham radio operator and engineer who founded the science of Radio Astronomy in his spare time. In 1937 he built a 31 ft parabolic dish antenna with a 20 ft focal length in his backyard in Wheaton, Illinois. With his third homemade radio receiver, he successfully recorded extraterrestrial signals at 160 MHz in 1938. Reber worked long into the night when interference was reduced. By aiming his dish in declination and using the rotation of the planet earth, Reber had completed the first radio map of the sky by 1943, clearly showing not only our own galactic core, but discovering new sources in Cygnus and Cassiopeia. When a delegation of distinguished scientists came to verify his accomplishment, he had to delay them because it was laundry day and his dish antenna was supporting one end of Mrs Reber's clothesline. When the movie Contact was filmed at the VLA Radio Astronomy Observatory, ham operators there contacted Reber, by then very aged but continuing research and living in Tasmania. Reber permitted his ham radio callsign to be used by Jodie Foster in the movie.

HV
High Voltage

Lossy
Material experiencing electrical losses (in the form of heat) at Tesla coil frequencies. PVC is a lossy material for cap construction (as dielectric). Minimize use of lossy material to maximize output.

Mains
The power mains, also the transformer powering the primary.

Multi Gap
A series arrangement of spark gaps

NST
Neon Sign Transformer

PE
Polyethelene

PIG or POLE PIG
A power line distribution transformer (also called POLE PIG)

Pri
Primary. In a Telsa coil, the primary resonator is the primary coil and primary capacitor.

PVC
Polyvinyl Chloride, a white plastic, commonly used in pipe. Good insulator but somewhat lossy at high freq.

Quench
Ability of a spark gap to shut off, cease conducting current. Once a gap breaks down and an arc forms it takes much less electricity to keep it conducting. To stop conduction, the power must be removed or reduced, and/or some other process must be used to "quench" the gap.

1st or 2nd or 3rd or... notch quenching :

When the gap fires, ringing energy couples from the primary resonator to the secondary resonator, until the primary energy is depleted, then the energy in the secondary starts to return to the primary. As long as the gap continues to conduct, the energy continues to surge back and forth between primary and secondary until either the system runs down due to losses or the gap quenches thereby breaking the primary resonant circuit.

When the gap quenches after the first energy transfer, it is first notch quenching. If it takes two or three complete transfers, it is second or third notch quenching. After that, it is usually considered as "no quenching" or "fails to quench". We usually want to quench on the first notch, trapping maximum energy in the secondary resonator before energy is wasted in system losses.

Resonant Charging
A condition where the primary capacitor resonates at the mains frequency with the power transformer. This allows the transformer to deliver more voltage than its nameplate rating.

Rolled Poly Cap
Capacitor (usually oil filled) made from PE sheets and AL foil and then rolled up.

RSG
Rotary (moving electrode) Spark Gap

Sec
Secondary. In a Telsa coil, the secondary resonator is the secondary coil and the capacitance of the toroid and top load.

SG
Spark Gap (also called Static Gap)

Streamer
A high voltage spark from a Tesla coil not hitting anything, just branching into air.

Strong Nuclear Force
Short range force, the strongest of the four known forces. If you ever figure out how to make a weapon from it, please say nothing about it, burn your notes, destroy the ashes and kill yourself.

TF Gap
A modified type of RQ Gap from Terry Fritz

Toroid
A donut shaped top electrode. Its capacitance loads the secondary coil, drop its resonant frequency and it holds off the breakout. Energy stored in the toroid (~capacitor) gives us longer arcs.

Vectors
Vectors are numbers that point somewhere. A vector has a direction and a magnitude. Example Five miles is a scalar number. Five miles northwest is a vector.
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