Arc Flash and Free Energy

[Feynman]

Over the weekend, I accidentally shorted out a sound amplifier and experienced an arc flash about 5" from my eyes.

This got me thinking -- check this out:

"An arc flash is the light and heat produced from an electric arc supplied with sufficient electrical energy to cause substantial damage, harm, fire, or injury. Electrical arcs experience negative resistance, which causes the electrical resistance to decrease as the arc temperature increases. Therefore, as the arc develops and gets hotter the resistance drops, drawing more and more current (runaway) until some part of the system melts, trips, or evaporates, providing enough distance to break the circuit and extinguish the arc."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_flash

An arc flash can easily have as much energy as 1lb of TNT  and have temperatures far hotter than the Sun.

What does an "arc flash" have to do with the "spark gap" we see in Tesla devices?  Could it be the the phenomenon of electrical discharge through gas (aka possibly plasma), in particular discharge through nitrogen, oxygen, or the noble gases, have something to do with free energy?

That is, why is it as more current flows through the air that it behaves as a 'negative resistor'?  Could it be because somehow plasma and free energy are linked through phenomenon of 'negative resistors'?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_resistance

"Negative resistance is a property of some electric circuits where an increase in the current entering a port results in a decreased voltage across the same port. This is in contrast to a simple ohmic resistor, which exhibits an increase in voltage under the same conditions. Negative resistors are theoretical and do not exist as a discrete component. However, some types of diodes (e.g., tunnel diodes) can be built that exhibit negative resistance in some part of their operating range. Such a differential negative resistance is illustrated in Figure 1 with a resonant-tunneling diode. Electric discharges through gases exhibit negative resistance, and some chalcogenide glasses,[1] organic semiconductors, and conductive polymers exhibit a similar region of negative resistance as a bulk property."

Just some thoughts.

-Feynman

[thx1138]

A spark gap is more like a semiconductor than a negative resistor. A semiconductor is defined as a material that is an insulator under one set of conditions and a conductor under another set of conditions. At a high enough voltage the air or gas in the spark gap that is normally an insulator breaks down and begins conducting. It was the transistor of Tesla's day.
The resistance goes down because the gas is basically exploded out of the gap so the medium is thinner. The same as electricity conducts better in thinner gases like in a vacuum tube. That doesn't mean it goes negative. It just goes down. And the resistance doesn't rise with the heat because there is nothing there to heat.

The space between the elctrodes determines how much voltage is required to jump the gap, i.e. the thicker the insulator, the higher the required voltage. As long as the voltage is maintained you have an arc, not a spark. That's how arc lights and arc welders work.

Note that the tunneling diode is a differential negative resistor meaning it is not truly a negative resistance but is negative in relation to what one would expect it to be - differential.
Plasmas are truly interesting stuff - the fourth form of matter. It is neither solid, liquid, nor gas but has properties of all the other three. One interesting phenomena is that sufficiently intense sparks cause what is know as "electron cascade" where electrons are freed from the medium between the electrodes.

Note also that this is basically lightning but on a realtively tiny scale.

I spent some time around a camp fire with a nuclear engineer last December and we got into plasmas a little. His basic take was, "Plasmas are really hard to grasp." He was speaking intellectually! Don't try to grab one

[thx1138]

Above should be "electron avalanche" rather than "electron cascade".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_avalanche

[e2matrix]

I've come across a lot of references to the concept that an arc or spark gap is needed to generate excess energy.   A lot of devices claiming free energy use this and I suspect even some motors with brushes may get some extra from this concept.

[forest]

Not really, they take electrons , not energy.I know because Tesla said , it's a wrong way to consider arc as energy source. Read carefully his interview.