Hey Jones, Yeah, I have no idea what that surplus tube can take, and when these guy pop you get mercury _everywhere_! I've driven smaller tubes to that current in the 100's of millisecond range, it's kind of scary 'cos you can here the arc popping. Besides, the calcs predicted plenty of force for that current, so no need to risk the tube. To be fair, I was probably more let down than Fred, I ended up putting more work into refurbishing the tube and trigger circuits than the experiment was worth. I prefer SCR's for my pulse experiments anyway. That said, a pair of car batteries makes a hell of a pulse generator, huh? The risetime surprised me, although you can't see it from the scope shot.
I don't have a GM tube, although I should for reasons which should be abundantly clear knowing my zip code. But let's not go there, you know what I'm gonna say already (grin). Thanks George, splendid job you're doing there. I could probably check if someone sends me a tube. Otherwise it'd have to wait, I have my eye on a Tek FG504 at the moment. K. -----Original Message----- From: Jones Beene [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2005 5:45 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Vortex Subject: Re: New Energy researches at KPN Consulting Keith , Interesting experiment with the Hg arc. (Fred isn't too happy with the results, so he probably wants to see the full 800 amps through there) Do you have a G-M or other type of radiation monitor? It would be interesting to know if there was any small amount of induced radioactivity in the Hg from the large amounts of current flowing through it, possibly due to activation one of the relatively unstable isotopes (or "electronium"). There should not be any change before vs. after, of course - but is there? 203 Hg is often used as a manufactured tracer, but there is a tiny amount of radioactivity in some natural ores which simply shouldn't be there, due to the short half-life. Jones
