A "RADIANT ENERGY" DETECTOR

[Grumpy]

@Marco

I see you like Keb' Mo' 

[thx1138]

One must realize that back in the 1870s no one new what light was. Today we call it electromagnetic (EM) radiation. This was also before the discovery of the X-rays. Today we know that there is a much broader EM spectrum but all of that was discovered by the pioneers in electricity and physics of the 1800s and expanded in the 1900s as better tools became available.

Here is the original radiant energy detector.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_radiometer

And some other info.
http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/pioneers/crookes.html

Sir William Crookes was a mentor of Tesla's. So it isn't "Tesla's radiant energy" at all. Crookes used the term first. It is a generic term. Anything that radiates energy is a radiant energy source.

"Tesla's latest Roentgen Ray Investigations", Electrical Review, New York 28 No.17, April 22. 1896)
"...streams resembling the cathodic must be emitted by the sun and probably also by other sources of radiant energy, such as an arc light or Bunsen burner."

Regarding the "stinging ray experiments" consider what happened to the atoms and particles of the conductor that was vaporized. They went somewhere and they weren't converted to pure energy because that would have been a nuclear explosion. But they definitely radiated and they carried a charge as witnessed by their charging of objects in the lab, i.e. radiation.

[Pirate88179]

@Marco,

Yup They are, 4000V. Wanna borrow one?  Maybe I 'll test one this afternoon.Scare the cat.

1000Volt doides.

I know about those big caps, you can burn a 12 volt ligthbulb of off one for 3 seconds.

Spider.

For big caps, why not try some super caps, or boost caps?  Like 3,000 Farad.  They charge up really fast and will hold more juice than all of those caps in your photo put together.

NSTs are fun.  i bought a new one off of ebay.  It is 10,000 volts and I am going to (one day) build a Jacobs ladder with it.

High voltage is great if you are careful...I am still leary of it as I still get zapped by my modified flash camera circuit Joule Thiefs at 400 volts and it still hurts.

Bill

[sparks]

One must realize that back in the 1870s no one new what light was. Today we call it electromagnetic (EM) radiation. This was also before the discovery of the X-rays. Today we know that there is a much broader EM spectrum but all of that was discovered by the pioneers in electricity and physics of the 1800s and expanded in the 1900s as better tools became available.

Here is the original radiant energy detector.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_radiometer

And some other info.
http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/pioneers/crookes.html

Sir William Crookes was a mentor of Tesla's. So it isn't "Tesla's radiant energy" at all. Crookes used the term first. It is a generic term. Anything that radiates energy is a radiant energy source.

"Tesla's latest Roentgen Ray Investigations", Electrical Review, New York 28 No.17, April 22. 1896)
"...streams resembling the cathodic must be emitted by the sun and probably also by other sources of radiant energy, such as an arc light or Bunsen burner."

Regarding the "stinging ray experiments" consider what happened to the atoms and particles of the conductor that was vaporized. They went somewhere and they weren't converted to pure energy because that would have been a nuclear explosion. But they definitely radiated and they carried a charge as witnessed by their charging of objects in the lab, i.e. radiation.

I always looked on it as an electromagnetic pulse radiation.   The copper vaporized into a plasma causing a dead short and a huge current flow for a brief interval until the generator and distribution system capacity went to it's knees.  The near field magnetic wave quite intense.

[thx1138]

I always looked on it as an electromagnetic pulse radiation.   The copper vaporized into a plasma causing a dead short and a huge current flow for a brief interval until the generator and distribution system capacity went to it's knees.  The near field magnetic wave quite intense.

My perspective was that the copper caused the dead short and the plasma is a result of that short but you might be right because we get that same short with an arc light instead of a copper rod when the insulating properties of the gas between the electrodes breaks down.

On the other hand, Tesla noted the Bunsen burner produces radiant energy and in that case we have no electrical short but flame is considered to be a plasma.

So why don't we get the stinging sensation with a Bunsen burner? Because we don't have the electromagnetic pulse propelling the vaporized copper ions. The electromagnetic pulse in the exploding wire propels ions as well as projecting the electromagnetic fields, i.e. ionizing radiation which causes the stinging sensation and which can be felt through glass and copper barriers.