The Secret Life of Lightning: The Science of Giant Tesla Coils | Greg Leyh
What this covers
Nikola Tesla’s wireless electrical system is more than a high voltage spectacle. Experiments with Tesla coils could help explain important questions about how lightning works. Bay Area citizen scientist Greg Leyh has built the largest Tesla coils in the world in his quest to better understand the physics of lightning.
Leyh's current project is completing a 40-foot tall coil which has been in the works for 5 years; and that's a step toward eventually building a pair of coils at 3 times that height. Invented by Nikola Tesla in the 01890’s, the Tesla coil produces high-voltage, low-current, high frequency alternating-current electricity with vivid electrical streamers that extend from the top of the coil.
"The Secret Life of Lightning: The Science of Giant Tesla Coils" was given on September 26, 02017 as part of The Long Now Foundation's “Conversations at The Interval” Salon Talks. These hour long talks are recorded live at The Interval, our bar, cafe, & museum in San Francisco. Since 02014 this series has presented artists, authors, entrepreneurs, scientists (and more) taking a long-term perspective on subjects like art, design, history, nature, technology, and time. To follow the talks, you can:
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Greg Leyh demonstrates that large-scale electrical phenomena like Tesla's wireless power, super long discharges, and relativistic lightning initiation are experimentally tractable problems that can be studied through carefully designed high-voltage apparatus, and that understanding lightning's relativistic mechanisms could enable both energy transmission and lightning suppression.
- Tesla's wireless power transfer works in near-field through resonant coupling, proven by experimental Tesla Roadster; far-field ionosphere coupling remains unproven but theoretically possible
- Super long discharges violate classical 2,000 kV/m breakdown threshold by reaching across distances with <100 kV/m, mechanism still unknown but critical to understand for multi-megavolt transmission
- Relativistic runaway breakdown with positronic feedback loop explains gamma ray and antimatter production in storms and predicts controllable lightning initiation at 16 MV across 80 meters, experimentally testable with 40-foot Tesla coil prototype
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In the 1960s at a high-voltage test facility in Siberia, a 90-foot tall Marx generator producing 5 million volts produced super long discharges that traveled hundreds of meters across an open field, crossing from the tower top to hit transmission lines and streetlights in a parking lot, despite classical theory predicting arcs should only reach about 2.5 kilometers at 2,000 kV/m but instead reached with less than 100 kV/m, only a twentieth of normal requirements.
“The first man-made super long discharge occurred in the 1960s at a high-voltage test facility in Siberia there are the ones shown in this photo this tower here on the left is called a Marx generator this one's about 90 feet tall and can produce about five million volts now normally five million volts should only arc about this far at 2,000 kilovolts per meter and you can see the designers of the tower had that in mind so imagine their surprise when arcs started coming on the top of this tower and shooting across hundreds of meters in this case across the field hitting this transmission line blowing out the insulators on the top of the tower and even hitting the the streetlights in the parking lot next to the building these wild arcs somehow managed to cross these huge distances with less than 100 kV per meter that's only a twentieth of what normal arts require”
NASA's Fermi gamma-ray Space Telescope made an accidental discovery that about 1,800 thunderstorms are in progress somewhere on the globe at any given moment, and new observations show thunderstorms produce both terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) and antimatter through a process where relativistic electrons emit gamma rays that occasionally transform into electron-positron pairs.
“at any given moment about 1,800 thunderstorms aren't progress somewhere on the globe new observations by NASA's Fermi gamma-ray Space Telescope show the thunderstorms make antimatter the process starts with a terrestrial gamma-ray flash or TGF an intense pulse of gamma rays originating from thunderstorms”
Tesla had plans to set up another tower in the UK as a smaller listening station to test receiving a signal across the Atlantic, and he was actually trying to get power across the Atlantic, but had told JP Morgan it was going to be a radio station, which is how things fell apart.
“he had plans to set up another tower in the UK somewhere and it'd be a smaller one just to listen so he was actually trying to get that signal all the way across the Atlantic he was trying to get power across the Atlantic yeah he had told JP Morgan that it was going to be a radio station and that's kind of how things fell apart”
Tesla's wireless power transmission scheme involved placing high-voltage towers at strategic points globally to capacitively couple power up to the upper atmosphere, which Tesla believed to be reasonably conductive based on his work with rarefied gases in vacuum tubes.
“Tesla's idea was to place a number of high voltage towers at strategic points around the globe each tower would then capacitively couple power up to the upper atmosphere which Tesla believed to be reasonably conductive he based this on his work with rarefied gases in vacuum tubes”
In the late 1990s, researchers started searching storm clouds for telltale gamma rays that would support relativistic runaway breakdown theory, but for many years found nothing because they were looking from the wrong direction.
“in the late 1990s Reacher's we researchers started searching storm clouds for telltale gamma rays that would lend support to the theory but for many years they couldn't find anything at all it turns out they were looking from the wrong direction”
Leyh used to work at Makani, which manufactures special windmills that are actually eight-bladed acrobatic planes that circle on a tether, and the thing holding back renewables right now is the cost of storage.
“oh yeah well right now I used to work at Makani and they make these special windmills that actually eight bladed acrobatic planes that circle on it yeah some of you remember or Saul Griffith who's speaking and spoken twice and our other series is the founder of Makani right and the thing holding back renewables right now is storage the cost of storage is just too much”
Germany experienced a situation where the price of electricity went negative due to an excess supply from a 'perfect storm' of simultaneous solar and wind generation, demonstrating that renewable energy distribution and storage (not generation) is the limiting factor in renewable energy economics.
“in Germany where they had so much they had a perfect storm of solar and wind to where the price of electricity went negative because they couldn't ship anywhere and that problem is going to get worse and worse as more solar comes online”
Relativistic runaway breakdown, developed by Russian physicists Gurevich and Zybin, proposes that cosmic rays strike atoms in cloud electric fields at the right angle to knock off electrons at relativistic velocities, and these relativistic electrons shrink due to warped spacetime, significantly reducing their friction in air and allowing them to accelerate to near light speed and knock off more electrons in a chain reaction.
“a couple russian physicist named Gourevitch ands ivan came up with a novel theory to explain this and they gave it a great name to boot relativistic runaway breakdown their theory starts with an Olympic field in the middle of the cloud arranged at some arbitrary angle usually they're mostly vertical now this field doesn't have to be strong enough to break down air it only has to be strong enough to accelerate free electrons a cosmic ray enters the electric field area and strikes an atom under the right conditions if it hits it just right the cosmic ray will knock off electrons at relativistic velocities now a curious property of relativistic electrons is that they're moving so fast that they actually shrink they effectively shrink due to their warped space-time which significantly reduces their friction in air this allows them to accelerate to near the speed of light until they eventually do hit other atoms and knock off more relativistic electrons eventually starting a chain reaction”
Detailed circuit simulations Leyh ran confirmed that even the amazingly small coupling capacitance of 10 femtofarads between well-tuned Tesla coils can pass dangerous amounts of power through the magic of resonance.
“but later I ran some detailed circuit simulations which confirmed that even this amazingly small amount of coupling can pass dangerous amounts of power between well to well-tuned Tesla coils all through the magic of resonance”
A number of groups have tried to answer the question of far-field ionosphere coupling using computer simulations to simulate the entire cavity between the ionosphere and the earth, but this is a huge problem presenting over 10 billion degrees of freedom, and nobody has quite gotten there yet.
“more recently however a number of groups have tried to answer this question with computer simulations to simulate the entire cavity between the ionosphere and the earth and but it's a huge problem a simulation of this size presents over 10 billion degrees of freedom so nobody's quite gotten there yet”
Dwyer presented numbers for his positronic feedback loop mechanism showing it easily reaches the 20-to-1 amplification factor needed to explain super long discharges, whereas the normal relativistic runaway breakdown avalanche doesn't quite make it to that factor, and positrons have been observed to come out of storms, suggesting the mechanism may match the theory.
“Dwyer presented numbers for his positronic feedback loop easily reaches the 20 to 1 whereas the normal relativistic runaway breakdown Avalanche doesn't quite make it and we see positrons come out so maybe it matches the theory I think there's still a lot of unknowns there”
Greg clarifies that relativistic runaway breakdown (and Dwyer's positronic feedback loop extension) is 'one of them' the main contenders among competing theories, indicating that the scientific consensus hasn't fully settled on the mechanism despite strong supporting evidence.
“is that theory the widely accepted theory at this point or is that it's not still a fairly it's one of them a terrific ins eivin's runaway breakdown is one of the main contenders however it doesn't explain a few things”
Classical electrical theory requires approximately 2,000 kilovolts per meter to break down air and create an arc discharge, and modern electrical insulators depend on this value to hold off voltages.
“classical electrical theory states that it'll cost us about two thousand kilovolts per meter in order to break down the air and make a nice arc discharge the cost of breaking down air is well-documented and modern electrical insulators depend on this 2,000 kilovolts per meter value to successfully hold off voltages”
Marx generators can generate millions of volts by charging capacitors in parallel and then suddenly connecting them in series, creating a high voltage pulse; Cockcroft-Walton generators use diodes arranged in a zigzag to shuttle charge up capacitors like a bucket brigade, eventually reaching full voltage.
“Mark's generators can generate millions of volts and if you load them up with capacitance they'll split two by fours a coke off the Walton generator is a little bit different a Marx generator works by charging a bunch of capacitors in parallel and then you have some means to suddenly connect them in series and they form a high voltage where as a co-prophet you're using diodes arranged in a zigzag all the way up the capacitors and it acts like a bucket brigade and it just shuttles a charge all the way to the top”
The biggest transmission line in the US right now is the Pacific Intertie, which comes from hydroelectric plants in Washington and feeds Los Angeles at 1 million volts DC at 2,500 amps, spanning the distance from Washington to Los Angeles.
“the biggest line in the u.s. right now is the Pacific in ertai it comes from the hydroelectric plants in Washington and feeds Los Angeles right Los Angeles is just draws it in from everywhere and that's a 1 million volt DC line at 2,500 amps and that's about as high as I go and that that just makes the run from Washington to Los Angeles”
Leyh's plan to replace his lost lab space is to outfit a custom cargo trailer with all the tower components, instruments, and a workshop, allowing the entire collapsible 40-foot system to pack into a single 18-foot trailer, enabling the mobile lab to move to desolate test sites around the Bay Area without needing building space, administrative overhead, or utility hookups.
“I have a plan to replace this lab space with one that can avoid the hazards of gentrification the plan is to get a custom cargo trailer and outfit it with all the tower components instruments and a workshop since the tower itself is fully collapsible the entire system can pack into a single 18-foot trailer there's many great desolate spots around the Bay Area that would make perfect test sites but they don't have usable buildings or utilities however a self-contained mobile lab could just roll into one of these sites set up perform experiments and then roll out all without needing any building space administrative overhead or hookups storing a trailer is also much much easier than finding reliable lab space in Oakland these days”
Tesla coils are more cost-effective than Marx generators for producing multiple millions of volts because Tesla coils are 'mostly air'—just a winding—while Marx banks require expensive capacitors all the way up a structure that must support their weight and provide good electrical insulation.
“I want to make eight million volts but I have to do it cheaply a Marx generator per volt that cost way more than a Tesla coil because if you make the Tesla coil right it's mostly air it's just a winding that does this whereas the the Marx Bank has all these capacitors all the way up there so it's a structure that holds a lot of weight and that structure also has to be a good insulator very expensive”
In a Survival Research Laboratories story, Mark Pauline needed a big winch from a railroad yard and went to get it in broad daylight by unbolting it himself, and when police came by and asked what he was doing, he said he was taking the railroad winch for a performance, and the police were flabbergasted that he was doing it in broad daylight as if he deserved it as an artist.
“I remember one story where he needed a big winch that was out at in a railroad yard somewhere and so he went out to get it and started unbolting it just in broad daylight and the police came by and said hey what are you doing he's I'm taking this railroad winds I need it for a performance and they said well you can't do that get out of here so they ran him off and and they were just flabbergasted that he was doing it in broad daylight as if he deserved it as an artist”
Understanding how to control wild arcs at multi-megavolt levels would allow renewable energies like solar to become cost competitive because you could build huge solar plants and send power directly to the dark side of the planet via transcontinental transmission lines.
“understanding how to control wild arcs at multi mega volt levels would allow renewable energies like solar to become cost competitive because then you could build huge solar plants and they could send power directly to their dark side of the planet”
To test whether relativistic runaway breakdown theory explains lightning initiation, Greg designed an experiment that can test the theory's critical predictions on the ground where effects can be measured in detail, rather than relying on astronomical detection methods or instruments floating inside storms.
“now I wonder if anyone here looking at this problem has had the same thought as me that the best way to get at these answers is to simply recreate this critical electric field here on the ground where we can actually measure what happens in close detail”
When asked why he thinks he is alone in researching lightning physics and why there is no NASA research lab doing this, Leyh responds that DARPA and other agencies are busy doing other things to violate basic physics, and if you want to look at what people are interested in, you just go to Kickstarter or IndieGoGo and see things raising all the money are like little clips for your iPhone, and nobody is really interested in pure research the way they used to be.
“well else is busy doing en power and things like that to violate basic physics and if you want to look at what people are interested in just go to Kickstarter or IndieGoGo and look at the things that are raising all the money it's like for a little clip on for your iPhone nobody's really interested in you know pure research no like they used to be”
Alexander Rose, the executive director of Long Now, expressed hope that someone in San Francisco or listening online with real money would fund Leyh's research, noting that people with real money have safeguards against too much fun.
“after listening to this brilliant man talk about his life's work is there not someone in San Francisco in this room or listening online considering how interesting it is and how important it is isn't there someone who can fund this trivial amount of money that he's looking for I sure hope so people with real money have safeguards against too much fun Daniel”
For the full-scale experimental apparatus, the design target is about 20 percent higher than the minimum 16 MV required by the theory, because historically large electrical machines and large research machines always encounter intriguing corner cases just out of reach, and Leyh references many times including the Tevatron where they wished they could turn it to eleven.
“the design target for the output voltage is actually about twenty percent higher than the minimum sixteen MV required by the theory and that's because historically large electrical machines and large research machines always encounter some intriguing corner case that's just out of reach and I know many times including the Tevatron where they wish they could turn it to eleven”
Leyh's experience with Survival Research Laboratories allowed him to experience social scenarios that one doesn't normally get to experience and discover that the fabric society is made out of is actually kind of fragile and goes away in certain places.
“working with us or ill allowing one to experience social scenarios that you don't normally get to experience and to know to discover that the fabric that society is made out of it's actually kind of fragile and goes away in certain places”
Software people working in physics is like a fish out of water because they can't undo things and expect questions, in contrast to software where you can test and iterate.
“software people working in physics sound like a fish out of water what do you mean I can't undo that for questions”
Leyh monitored geophysics literature, especially anything related to natural electrical phenomena like the global electrical circuit and sprites, and encountered the relativistic runaway breakdown theory when it was published more widely in 2005.
“well I I monitored geophysics especially anything having to do with the natural electrical phenomena like the global electrical circuit sprites things like that and they published it a little bit earlier but they published it widely in 2005”
People with significant wealth often have safeguards against too much fun, suggesting that financial success and institutional constraints discourage unconventional, high-risk, high-reward research like Greg's lightning experiments.
“people with real money have safeguards against too much fun Daniel”
You can make plasmas in your microwave oven by putting a carbon mesh (called carbon veil) strip on top of a ceramic cup turned upside down and running the microwave on, creating balls of plasma about the size of a fist that are orange-white, float around, and hum at the 60 Hertz frequency of the magnetron, eventually hitting the ceiling and peeling all the paint off the top.
“you can make plasmids in your microwave oven have you ever tried that you mean putting a metal fork and your microwave and turning it on well not a medal for it that'll double spark but that's not what you want you take like a ceramic cup and turn it upside down and then find some thin carbon mesh they call it carbon veil and put a little strip in there on top of the thing and set the microwave oven on just in our microwave upstairs okay keep going yeah you don't want to use it you know you don't want to do this and one that you normally cook food in because and what you'll get are these balls of plasma about this big around there like orange white and I'll just start floating around in there going and there's they're balls of conductive material because they're humming at the 60 Hertz that the magnetron is running at and inevitably they since they're lighter than air they hit the ceiling they bounce off the ceiling and before long all of the paint is peeled off the top”
Leyh witnessed a bizarre electrical accident he caused by leaving a clip lead connected across the primary terminals of a coil, which burned the clip lead, but the interesting part was that the coil was disconnected from everything and stored away in a corner of the lab, yet somehow energy transferred to it while another coil was running across the room.
“I witnessed uh bizarre electrical accident I actually caused this accident by leaving this poor cliff lead Canessa connected across the primary terminals of a coil but what's interesting here is that when the coil burned this clip lead the coil itself was disconnected from everything and actually stored away in the corner of the lab at the time we were running a similar coil across the room when somebody started yelling about smoke after finding the smoldering cliff lead hanging from the disconnected coil I just stared at it for a long moment in disbelief and wondering what in the hell just happened”
After Leyh's discovery of resonant wireless power transfer, his friend Mike Kennan thought light bulbs were a terrible choice for a test load and built the first world's first real Tesla Roadster, with an aerial consisting of welding rods forming a disc shape that collects electric field lines from the transmitting coil, energy going to a resonant transformer on the frame, stepping down voltage to about 200 volts to run a 180-volt Gare motor linked to the drive axle under the seat.
“after this discovery a friend Mike Kenan felt rather strongly that light bulbs were a terrible choice for a test load he thought since of X should be used to push his lazybone around so he built the first the world's first real Tesla Roadster there's an aerial up here and this aerial consists of a bunch of welding rods that form a disc shape and that establishes an area where it can collect electric field lines that ultimately come from the transmitting coil that energy goes down here to a little resonant transformer melted on the frame and this transformer can be quite small because the operating frequencies so high the transformer steps down the voltage to about 200 volts or so and runs this 180 volt Gare motor over here and then the gear motor is just linked to the drive axle under the seat”
Lightning is really hard to get a handle on because it has awkward impedance with very high voltage and very high current, making it difficult to harvest energy from, as one would need to build a tower capable of storing 350 million volts to capture the full strike energy, while a 10 million volt tower could only harvest 1/35th of a strike.
“lightning is really hard to get a handle on is that this really awkward impedance it's very high voltage and then also I occurred but really high voltage and you have maybe 350 million volts there that you can harvest so to get any appreciable amount of that you have to build a tower that can store 350 million volts it's pretty easy to make say a 10 million volt tower and so you can get 10 a 10 divided by 350 you can get that much of the lightning strike in your 10 million volt hour now you have this 10 million volts that you have to disassemble down to a little voltage that you can use and plug into the grid”
Alexander Rose mentioned a conversation with Saul Griffith where he reverse-engineered that the Google research budget is now larger than DARPA, and this suggests Google is looking for different kinds of wins than DARPA would be in pure research.
“we were talking about this earlier but from I remember a conversation with Saul Griffith he he basically a kind of reverse engineer that the Google research budget is now larger than DARPA and clearly they're looking for different kinds of winds than DARPA would be in pure research so that's a it's an interesting problem when you have I think people especially from the software background working in the physical sciences and hopefully looking for the same kind of scaling effects”
Alexander Rose expresses concern that despite the profound importance and inherent interest of Greg's lightning research and the relatively modest funding requirements compared to other scientific projects, nobody with substantial wealth in San Francisco seems interested in supporting it.
“after listening to this brilliant man talk about his life's work is there not someone in San Francisco in this room or listening online considering how interesting it is and how important it is isn't there someone who can fund this trivial amount of money that he's looking for I sure hope so”
Greg's collapsed Tesla tower design uses an inflatable double cylinder structure at the center where the air column is under compression, with all other structural elements under tension (like aircraft wing design), allowing the tower to be packed into an 18-foot cargo trailer while maintaining structural integrity.
“well essentially I needed a four-story structure that can hold a winding five feet in diameter all the way up there plus a big top electrode and the cheapest way to make a structure is to use all tension elements don't use any compression elements like in airplanes they try to make everything as tension as much as possible like a like a stretched skin wing so the main structure in the center is an in-flight double cylinder and everything's in tension except for the air which is in the middle that's under compression there's nothing else in there it's just all air”
Leyh has spent the last five years building a 40-foot tall fully functional scale prototype without funding, with even the scale prototype being more than twice as large as the largest operating Tesla coil ever built, and the design explores new construction methods including a fully collapsible tower design and modular massively parallel primary drive system to reduce cost and operation.
“for the last five years I've been building this 40-foot tall fully functional scale prototype now even the scale prototype will be more than twice as large as the largest operating Tesla coil ever built so for me to build this without any funding this prototype necessarily explores new design ideas that significantly reduce the cost of construction and operation among these are a fully collapsible tower design and a modular massively parallel primary drive system”
For near-field applications, Tesla's Wardenclyffe tower would have worked absolutely, with even the accidental 800-watt test rig delivering over a horsepower to a machine, suggesting a machine the size of Wardenclyffe could easily deliver 30 horsepower to local loads in the area.
“so would Tesla's Wardenclyffe tower have worked for near field applications absolutely even the accidental rig that we had could deliver over a horsepower a machine the size a Wardenclyffe could easily deliver 30 horsepower to local loads in the area”
Regarding lightning suppression, Leyh notes that since lightning uses a gain mechanism with the relativistic electron avalanche, it doesn't have enough field to generate lightning on its own, but the avalanche has net gain, and systems with gain are usually pretty easy to wreck by disrupting the mechanism to stop the chain reaction.
“I think it's worth looking at because as I mentioned lightning uses this gain mechanism it doesn't have enough feel to generate lightning the start but this relativistic electron avalanche has a net gain and usually something like that that has gained it's pretty easy to wreck it and all you have to do is wreck it to reconcile that change to stop the chain reaction and not the Lightning”
In a video of the Tesla Roadster at a Maker Faire, when the cart starts moving, there is lively sparking from the grounding chain that drags behind, and the driver Mike wore heavy welding clothes and kept complaining about getting shocks from holding the steering grips.
“note that mike is wearing a heavy welding clothes he kept complaining about getting shocks from holding the steering grips it's too bad we didn't collect the energy from him as well oh when the cart starts moving you can see some lively sparking down here from the grounding chain that drags behind the Roadster”
Leyh's first reaction to the relativistic runaway breakdown theory predicting gamma rays in lightning was skepticism, thinking it was a very classical effect, and later when Dwyer added the supplement of positrons, Leyh said he couldn't believe antimatter comes out of lightning storms, but then Fermi made the discovery and everybody started scratching their heads.
“my first reaction to that was I can't imagine gamma rays coming out of a lightning storm because that's a very classical effect right and then later on when Dwyer added the supplement of positrons I said okay I'm not going to believe that antimatter comes out of lightning storms that's just too much but then Fermi happened and everybody's still scratching their heads”
Leyh started a fundraiser at elllo.org to support the mobile lab construction, with perks including 'frozen lightning' (an Electrum art piece by Alberto Chu), and a special high-power demo of the 40-foot coil when it is ready, and it has been 10 years since Leyh has hosted a public demo.
“at this point I started a fundraiser at elllo.org to make the fundraiser interesting I've added some unusual perks like frozen lightning an Electra mater II by Alberto Chu and a special high power demo of the 40-foot coil when it's ready it's been 10 years since I've hosted a public demo so maybe it's time for one more if you're interested in this kind of stuff check out the fundraiser it's at elllo.org”
Alexander Rose connection to Greg Leyh began through the early Survival Research Laboratories shows; Rose saw SRL's destructive robot theater at Fort Mason, which changed his perspective, and later connected with others who worked with SRL including Chris Rand who worked on the clock project, and attended the power tool drag races where Leyh first appeared.
“I think actually my connection to Greg started I think long before even Greg maybe knows it but the very first survival research laboratory show I ever saw when I was in high school was here in Fort Mason out in this parking lot and it kind of changed my brain...I saw these destructive robot theater...I did a very short stint with them a little bit and when I was in high school...several of people who work on the clock project like Chris Rand also at some point worked for survival research laboratories and then when Jim Mason started power tool drag races which was a drag races with tools or racers made out of hand held power tools I was competing in that and then Greg showed up with this wild box”
Greg notes that at the Long Now Clock site in Nevada, a large crane tower must stop work whenever lightning is detected within five miles, demonstrating that lightning's destructive potential is a real operational constraint for engineers and that controlling or suppressing lightning over populated areas would be valuable.
“we have a big huge crane tower at the top that's attached to all of us humans effectively because we're all on the crane platform and whenever there was lightning within five miles we had to stop working and and obviously lightning causes destruction around the world on some level and fires forest fires for better or worse depending on where you are”
The primary drive system for each tower includes 12 stations, each with an array of the largest 6,500-volt transistors available in order to produce the required aggregate primary drive currents, and these individual transistors are each the size of a phone book and are currently used to power high-speed electric trains.
“the primary drive system for each tower includes 12 stations and each station has an array of the largest 6,500 volt transistors available in order to produce this aggregate primary drive currents now we're used to processors containing millions of transistors but a single one of these transistors this is the size of a phone book the transistors that we'll use here are currently used to power high-speed electric trains”
Modern structural plastics used for towers can only support about 7,000 volts per inch outdoors when well maintained, so a tower supporting 8 million volts requires a minimum of about 12 stories in height, which also conveniently places the runaway breakdown zone safely above the ground where it is easier to view with instruments.
“modern structural plastics that you would make these towers out of only support about seven thousand volts per inch outdoors and that's if they're well cared for so each tower needs to be a minimum of about twelve stories in height to support this much voltage this high it also places the runaway breakdown zone safely above the ground where it's easier to view with instruments”
Leyh was initially skeptical that Tesla's wireless power transmission could work, because radio transmitters today are far more powerful than Wardenclyffe yet deliver only fractions of a microwatt to receiver antennas, making it hard to imagine how Wardenclyffe could possibly deliver kilowatts.
“so would it have worked there's plenty of arguments on both sides even today personally I was a skeptic after all radio transmitters today are far more powerful than Wardenclyffe yet they only deliver fractions of a microwatt to receiver antennas so how can Wardenclyffe possibly deliver kilowatts”
Regarding far-field coupling to the ionosphere and beyond, Leyh's intuition still says no, but then again his intuition has already been burned once by his experience with wireless power, suggesting he remains open to being surprised again.
“what about far-field coupling to the ionosphere and beyond my intuition still says no but then again you could say my intuition has already been burned once by my experience with this”
Leyh lost his lab space at American Steel studios when New York real estate developers purchased the entire site and was displaced along with other workshops and artists, including artist Gary Wilson and Karen Cusolido who founded American Steel studios; real estate development pressure is now making it difficult to find reliable industrial workspace in Oakland.
“I was promptly kicked out along with many other workshops and artists there including Gary Wilson and Karen who Salido the artists who actually founded American steel studios now eight years ago it was pretty easy to find another industrial space but nowadays even undesirable spots like American steel are being scooped up by developers so right now everything's in storage and the project is pretty much dead in the water”
The new 40-foot coil tower will run at about three times the output power of Electrum, meaning approximately 240,000 watts.
“the new 40-foot Tower will run at about three times this output power here's how the new 40 foot coil tower looks now”
Greg notes that researchers described in the Marx generator discussion include Russian physicists Gourevitch and Ivan, who developed the relativistic runaway breakdown theory and gave it 'a great name' for its descriptive power and theoretical contribution.
“a couple russian physicist named Gourevitch ands ivan came up with a novel theory to explain this and they gave it a great name to boot relativistic runaway breakdown”
Leyh mentioned that a coal-fired power plant was going to be built near Gerlach Nevada to feed Los Angeles, but LA decided they didn't want to add that to the playa, so the plant was not built.
“I remember the coal-fired power plant that was going to go up near Gerlach Nevada I was also going to feed LA as well when it took LA saying they didn't want to add that to the playa for them did not build that”
Alexander Rose notes that Greg's work with Survival Research Laboratories in the past, combined with his current solo development of large-scale electrical experiments, represents a continuation of 'pirate science' tradition and positions Greg as creating his own 'savage engineering pirate ship for science' dedicated to studying lightning.
“you're creating your own savage engineering pirate ship for science for lightning science and did was your work with them kind of good inspire some of this thinking or is it just really based on necessity”
Ball lightning is one of the weirdest Wikipedia articles, with historic accounts of lightning entering rooms, going around, and leaving rooms, but most of the anecdotal evidence is hard to unwind, and one explanation is persistence of vision where a flash hit the ground and was off-center in the observer's retina.
“one of the weirdest Wikipedia articles I've ever stumbled upon was ball lightning it's like historic phenomena with all these different accounts of lightning like entering a room going around and then leaving a room I was just wondering if there's science on it or if you had a take on it well a lot of that's hard to unwind the anecdotal evidence sometimes it's just persistence of vision where there was a flash where it hit the ground that was in their retina just off-center a vision”
The unusual electrode design of Greg's Tesla coils allows a person to stand inside the electrode at full power receiving millions of volts, providing a rare educational and experiential demonstration of the Tesla effect.
“the unusual serum electrode allows the person to actually stand inside the electrode at full power aside from being incredibly fun writing the electrode millions of volts provided a rare educational experience”
Greg managed to sew the entire 40-foot Tesla tower secondary winding together by fitting it through the opening of a household sewing machine, demonstrating remarkable feat of topology and practical engineering.
“and we will learn how lightning works because about any bouncy house and we'll make up front what's even more remarkable is that entire 40-foot Tower I managed to get that through the sewing machine in my house to sew it all together so by some amazing feat of topology it all fit through there opening this big”
Leyh doesn't have a good explanation for the plasma balls created in the microwave and hasn't looked deeply for one, noting they are just 'one of those things.'
“and I don't have a good explanation for them it I haven't looked deeply for one it's just one of those just one of those things”
A question from the livestream audience asks about a Mark generator demonstration at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago where lightning splits two-by-four wooden boards with a huge thunderclap, illustrating the power and spectacle of Marx generators.
“we've got a question from the livestream about someone who saw the marks generator at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago I think this is many years back where they would split two by fours with lightnings and a huge thunderclap through the museum”
When Leyh obtained the three-letter URL LOD.org, he discovered it was owned by the Legion of Doom, a UNIX consulting group; the original Legion of Doom hacker collective members had grown up and taken regular jobs, but retained ownership of the domain name.
“when I got this URL I wanted LOD calm but has already taken so I looked up who LOD comm was and I ultimately figured out it was the Legion of Doom and so I sent them an email saying oh hi I'm your next-door neighbor at elllo.org so you delete you to doom huh and the guy was kind of like yeah that was us but we've all grown up now we have real jobs it's a UNIX consulting group”