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would a tesla coil induced spark to a nearby power line cause catastrophe?

Suppose that an arc from my tesla coil leaped approx ten feet to one of the un-insulated conductors on a nearby utility pole (carrying single phase 120VAC).

Obviously this would probably destroy most sensitive electronics within my neighbors' homes. But would it also (due to the ionization/breakdown of the air) induce a standing arc from phase to ground or phase-to-phase on the utility pole?

Perhaps a more realistic scenario would be an arc from the coil hitting an electrical outlet in my garage. Could this induce a sustained arc from phase to ground inside the outlet box? (of course this wouldnt be too bad since the 15 amp circuit breaker would pop soon). Just something to ponder, thanks for any insites.

Reply to
Rob Lucas
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Your telsla coil would have about as much effect on the power grid as stroking a cat would have on the lights in the next room.

Reply to
AZ Nomad

With any luck at all, it would do more damage to your coil than to the power lines or to your neighbors' "sensitive electronics." Can your coil handle 500 amps or so? What gauge wire is it wound with? What is its impedance at 60Hz?

You could do an experiment to see if you could get the 120V mains to maintain an arc across over half an inch gap. Since fuses shorter than that don't seem to have any trouble breaking a 120V circuit, I suspect not, unless you carbonized the plastic..

Delusions of grandeur?

Cheers, Tom

Reply to
Tom Bruhns

On a sunny day (Thu, 18 Jan 2007 03:21:24 GMT) it happened Rob Lucas wrote in :

Probably not, the mains is a low impedance.

Ionised path are conductive. That says it all. Now where the electrons go depends on who pushes the most.

You high impedance side of the tesla coil would make a great heater.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

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