Huw Davies wrote:
At 12:58 AM 04-06-98 +0100, Tony Duell wrote:
Not _that_ far - less than an inch, I'd have
thought. And remember that
the EHT side is pretty well insulated, so you're not going to touch it by
accident.
I seem to recall that the ionization potential of air at STP is something
like 10KV/cm, so 17KV might nearly jump an inch on a good day with a tail
wind.
If you really need to know I'll give my Dad a ring - he's a retired
ionization physicist who used to play with real big Van der Graf generators
(by really big I'm talking 10m tall and 5MeV - used to generate real big
sparks!).
I've never zapped myself with HT, but have successfully survived connecting
myself to 240V 50Hz - don't try this at home folks (or anywhere else) - it
hurts....
Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies(a)latrobe.edu.au
Information Technology Services | Phone: +61 3 9479 1550 Fax: +61 3 9479
1999
La Trobe University | "If God had wanted soccer played in the
Melbourne Australia 3083 | air, the sky would be painted green"
Well, I _did_ once discharge a Leyden jar that had been charging for
an hour sort of by hand. (Well, I first hit it with the physics lab
grounding strap, it made a _really_ big spark that I thought did the
job. Seems that took care of all of the electrons that could manage a
jump of a full inch. So I grabbed it to put it into the cupboard.)
Picking myself up off the floor a couple of minutes later ... I put it
away, it was now _thoroughly_ discharged.
--
Ward Griffiths
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_