I think it might be interesting to take a page out of the playbook of Robert Godes from Brillouin Energy.
He uses a very high voltage nanosecond pulse that would melt the wire if it were any longer. The pulse is over before the wire has a chance to heat up. The same might be true for nano powder. There is an interesting article out today about extremely powerful but short laser pulses exciting Graphene. http://phys.org/news/2012-05-properties-carbon-material-graphene.html Researchers find new properties of the carbon material graphene A short laser pulse inverts the electron population of Graphene from low energy to high energy with energy gain. How this can happen is a mystery to me. Where does the energy gain come from? Nanotubes are just rolled up Graphene so the same thing should happen in nanotubes. Cheers: Axil On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 4:57 PM, Robert Lynn <robert.gulliver.l...@gmail.com > wrote: > Actually maybe you can have too much voltage. > > I suspect it may be more power efficient to maintain a continuous plasma > channel with much lower voltages > than to produce a succession of high voltage sparks. > > Once a plasma channel is established it can be maintained with lower > voltage and more efficient AC power supplies. > > Take TIG welding with high voltage startup as a practical example of this. > Or perhaps a Jacobs Ladder. > > > On 30 May 2012 21:28, Axil Axil <janap...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> *Discharging through 2 spark plugs in parallel will not work either as >> the resistance drops massively as soon as a plasma channel forms diverting >> all current to one spark plug or other but not both.* >> >> >> >> In dusty plasma, it may take some time for the electrical resistance of >> the plasma to drop to the level needed to disable the second spark plug. >> >> >> >> When the dust is nano-sized, it takes a long time to charge these small >> sized dust particles to a high enough level to effectively reduce >> resistance throughout the plasma. >> >> >> >> Additional plugs might be needed to start the reaction in a rapid time >> frame. After the plasma has reached equilibrium the addition plug might not >> be needed. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Cheers: Axil >> >> >> >> >> On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 3:00 PM, Robert Lynn < >> robert.gulliver.l...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Check out he pashen discharge curves: >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paschen_Curves.PNG >>> and you will see that spark length is heavily dependent on the gas >>> composition and pressure. higher pressure means shorter spark at same >>> voltage, you won't get a 12mm spark in high pressure H2 >>> >>> Discharging through 2 spark plugs in parallel will not work either as >>> the resistance drops massively as soon as a plasma channel forms diverting >>> all current to one spark plug or other but not both. Connecting the >>> sparkplugs in series might work but the driving circuit won't handle it as >>> the reactor will need to be at a voltage half way between the two outputs >>> from the sparking circuit. Unless you have a lot of additional >>> complications with high voltage isolation capable floating power supplies. >>> However powering the circuit with a well insulated battery might work. >>> >>> >>> On 30 May 2012 19:25, ecat builder <ecatbuil...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>>> A quick followup on spark plugs.. I think I found what I was looking >>>> for.. A small, cheap, and simple spark gap igniter that takes 5V and >>>> produces 1/2" sparks. Less than $20 shipped. >>>> >>>> http://www.sparkfun.com/products/11218 >>>> >>>> Skip to 10:45 on the video to see it working. >>>> Would be strong enough to drive two spark plugs.. >>>> >>>> Thoughts? >>>> - Brad >>>> >>>> >>> >> >
