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| 6 centimeters spark from my Marx generator. In the front you can se the records discs, with aluminium foil plates, and separated through party cups. In the back, if you look attentively, you can see one of the two resistor chains. On the right are the spark gaps (simple thin copper wires with parallel alignement). On the left, I fixed a band meter, with adhesive tape, on a plastic bottle, to measure the spark lenght. The photo was made with the lights on. The sparks are very bright and loud. Commentaries: The lenght of the sparks can be increased through: - a better insulation of the charging resistor chains (the flashovers appear because the resistors are too short. so I can not increase the input voltage). - a better design of the spark gaps ( the thin wire has heavy corona losses, and the spark gap arcs earlier than it must). The spark gap must be made between two little spheres, minimising the losses. I can not measure the input voltage, but I think that is around 10,000- 15,000 volts, so the output is approximative 50,000- 75,000 volts. |