Spark Gaps In Series?

[russwr]

With a secondary spark gap (in vacuum chamber insulation), in series with spark plug, and using induction ignition (not CDI), does the spark plug actually fire at the higher voltage of first wider gap, so as it is at that minimum voltage for firing spark plug? High voltage has to jump first gap before the 2nd spark plug. is there voltage drop loss affecting spark plug?

[stivep]

 Please present schematic/picture/ explanation  about  phenomena in question and processes associated with  it.

When testing is provided  important is:
-source of  energy
- means/ form  of vacuum chamber./ is it High Vacuum?
- frequency of test and initial  voltage.
- is the  circuit  tested in series or parallel or  both  forms of resonance?
- did you measure  equivalent impedance
- is the output from energy source  matching  input of circuit in vacuum.
- what is the load of the  circuit?
- what is the  load  impedance in Ohm's
- do you have SWR 1:1 ?

_______________
But let's say an experimenter  didn't do any measurement and didn't even make any test:

in resonance  at frequency  of spark plug

At the resonance frequency, which is 4.97 MHz for the tested spark plug, the voltage amplitude reaches its maximum

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306261914001287

Here is calculator:
http://www.1728.org/resfreq.htm



Simple to your eye phenomena may be manifesting a complicated set of processes.
Each individual component should be placed on the paper  and individually  analyzed.
Main process will  in this case be described by :
Frequency response: Resonance, Bandwidth, Q factor
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-071j-introduction-to-electronics-signals-and-measurement-spring-2006/lecture-notes/resonance_qfactr.pdf

But for your eye and your fingers it will be the distance between  electrodes in any spark gap.

What is dielectric breakdown of air?

Breakdown voltage is considered to be 3 kv/mm or 3 megavolts per meter for dry air.
Basically dielectric breakdown is the flow of electric current due to ionization. So Its hard to say that there,s a minimum current.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-breakdown-voltage-of-air-and-is-there-a-minimum-amperage-where-it-will-ionize

what is the temperature of air or temperature  of  DUT in vacuum ?-  not just any vacuum  but  that specific vacuum level?
https://www.toppr.com/ask/question/the-breakdown-electric-intensity-for-air-is-3times-106-vm-the-maximum-charge-that-can/


Summary:

For  me your question is not clear, not precise and concise enough for majority  of scientists to respond with right answer.    



Wesley

[onepower]

russwr

With a secondary spark gap (in vacuum chamber insulation), in series with spark plug, and using induction ignition (not CDI), does the spark plug actually fire at the higher voltage of first wider gap, so as it is at that minimum voltage for firing spark plug?

Yes, whatever the arc over potential is on the secondary gap it is applied to the spark plug gap. I routinely used series gaps having four elements on my Tesla coil. Some gaps can be smaller or larger and once first gap arcs the second is charged to that voltage and arcs and so on...

High voltage has to jump first gap before the 2nd spark plug. is there voltage drop loss affecting spark plug?

Plasma has almost no resistance and is a near perfect conductor so losses are minimal.

Regards
AC

[seychelles]

CHECK THIS OUR RUSSWR. VERY INTERESTING.
https://www.intalek.com/Index/Projects/MultiSparkGap/MultiSparkGapExp.htm

[nix85]

Seems you are referring to Correa principle where short DC pulses are fed to a spark gap in such manner that conduction current is delayed which is supposed to sink ambient energy in. Many OU systems rely on spark gaps, Gray, Smith etc, altho as Smith said SG is NOT really needed.