Wardenclyffe - Tesla's true intention

[TeslaSecrets]

@madhatter

Yes I believe the ground is important too. I mentioned this more to dR-Green and his crystal radio initiative. You also point out is not really suitable for power transmission in the first place.

@ernst

I read your inductance article.

Did you know there was an experiment done with large flywheels, which suggested just such a space inertia existed. They found it took less energy to spin up a flywheel, if it had been previously spun up and stopped recently. As if there was something within or around the flywheel which kept up some of the spinning momentum, even after the flywheel could be physically measured to be completely stationary again.

There is also this paper:

http://www.ovaltech.ca/pdfss/ZPE_Mec...f_englisch.pdf

In which you will actually find mention of Tesla.

This seems very similar to what you suggest in this inductance paper.

[Farmhand]

TeslaSecrets, Depending on the setup, there could be several reasons why it might take less
energy to spin up a flywheel if it had just been spun up recently.

1. Bearings and grease are warm and less viscous, so reducing friction.
2. The motor could have residual magnetism in the field that depletes over time.
3. The motor could have a capacitor in it which charges when the flywheel is run down to stop it.
4. The heat from a previous run could even make things change size and therefore reduce friction and/or vibration, and/or improve other tolerances.


If all those factors and more were ruled out scientifically then I might believe it.


Cheers

[Ernst]

Just sharing my thoughts on the diagrams and descriptions in the RN.
- First description.
This one clearly shows the 4 coil set up: Primary (P), Secondary (S), extra (l) and the supports (L1). It is mentioned that L1, together with the top-load (C) is called 'the free system', which total circuit length should be 1/4 wavelength. The other system (E-S-l-C2) should have a length of n/4 wavelength with n uneven, preferably 3.
Calculations show that the free system is supposed to oscillate at about 100 KHz.
It is noted that both systems do not need to oscillate at the same frequency. (here we get into William Beaty's explanation)
- next diagram shows a primary and secondary being split into 2 halves. A careful observer will note the 5:13 and 5:14 windings in these coils. This could indicate that Tesla intended to generate a beat frequency.
- the next diagram shows a rather straightforward primary circuit, but now the free system is made up of coils with a different number of windings. Again this could be intended to generate a lower beat frequency.
In all these diagrams we see that the two balls that constitute the link between these 2 circuits are depicted with arrows between them going alternatively left-to-right and right-to-left. This could be in support of Beaty's relaxation oscillator.
- The next description calculates the voltage on the dome and on the earth.
All I have to add here is that in the comments you will read that a "proof reader" thinks he noticed errors, but I have checked these calculations as well and I am sure they are correct. (the case of the dyslexic proofreader?)
- The final descriptive letter explaines how a low frequency could be obtained by using the spark-gap frequency. Then it explains how energy changes from static to kinetic. This rings a bell; we have read something in the 1900 CM article that "Energy differs from water in that it can be converted into another form"
Then there are a few statements that draw my attention:
- the actual power is only that supplied by the primary
- the secondary circuit (! = the free system = coil #4) increases amplitude only.
- the power through a 10 m line is calculated at 875 Watt, but then the receiver amplifies both voltage and current to arrive at 8.600 KW. This is still unclear to me.
- the length of a half wavelength is mentioned from which an operating frequency of 200 KHz can be calculated.

Thoughts? Additions? Ideas?

Ernst.

[boguslaw]

Energy in higher state = magnetic field
energy in lower state = electric current

[TeslaSecrets]

@farmhand

Yes, without reading this paper and seeing how they performed the experiment exactly, no firm conclusion can be reached. I have been unable to locate the original paper referred to in this case.

@ernst

I hope this does not detract from your work, but you do not need the secondary to be at n/4, in order for this to work.

Most Tesla coils secondary resonances are based on the n/4, to get a high vibration at the top terminal and essentially a node at the ground.

However, by using an extra coil, you can modify this greatly. Yes, the Extra coil must be at 1/4 wavelength or n/4 even, but with the addition of an extra coil, the secondary need not necessarily be some multiple of n/4. In fact, we can have n/2 or n, with a node at the top and bottom, and we will still get excitation of the extra coil. You should see that having an electrical node, between the secondary and extra coil, improves the efficiency and frees the extra coil from the secondary somewhat.

I just think of it like building in 1/4 wave blocks, but build so there are nodes at each coil to coil connection.

If there is a fourth coil, it could change all this again. With a fourth coil, you could have a half wave secondary, coupled to the primary. Then a half wave extra coil which is free to oscillate, and then finally a fourth 1/4 wave coil, to actually tap off the power.

It is all just standing waves, similar to organ pipes in many ways. You can think of adding an extra coil, like placing a copy of one organ pipe, directly over or beside the original, so they are coupled. Sound would be slightly louder.

I know its more technical than this, but this is a good rule of thumb.

I agree beat frequencies are involved, as a means to get a lower frequency out for some reason. It is possible to get a very low frequency beat, even in the 10-20 Hertz range, from kilocycles. The beat frequency is simple the difference between the two if I am correct. 100010 Hz and 100000 Hz oscillations would give a beat frequency of 10 Hz. You would not need much difference between the length of your two different coil windings to achieve this small difference. Pretty easy to get beats by accident I would assume when using two coils of slightly different dimensions.

I remember reading in Tesla's Colorado Spring's notes, something about Tesla witnessing huge catastrophic releases of energy, if he suddenly changed the operating frequencies of his coils while under operation. As if a destructive dissonant pulse could be sent into the energized system, thus destroying its stability, and releasing all the stored energy at once. He warns about the dangers of this.

A freely resonant system, has the potential to oscillate itself to destruction.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse (Sound Version) (Standard 4:3) : Stillman Fires Collection; Tacoma Fire Department (Video) - Castle Films (Sound) : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

That is, it can go out of control very easily. Perhaps the beats, keeps the system under some degree of control. Apparently the power of resonance is not to be underestimated.

[Ernst]

@Boguslaw,

Energy in higher state = magnetic field
energy in lower state = electric current

I do not think it works this way. If you look at electricity and magnetism through vector calculus eyes, it is at first very difficult to say wich one would be the cause and which the effect. But it is almost certain (the only reason why I say "almost" is that we do not know the nature of either of them), that one is a result field (a rotational field) of the other.
In other words only one of them actually exists, the other one is simply an effect created by the first. Looking at these a bit closer, we notice one important difference: we do have electric charge, we do not have magnetic charge. This fact is strongly in favor of electricity being something actual and magnetism being its result. An electric charge is like a pressure, and can be either higher (+) or lower (-) than the surroundings. Differences in pressure cause a flow (current) to occur. This current creates a magnetic (rotational) field.

@TeslaSecrets,

I hope this does not detract from your work, but you do not need the secondary to be at n/4, in order for this to work.

It does detract of course, but I hope that if I get my ideas accross, at one point I will be rewarded (with a helpful remark).
We are so focussed on primary and secondary COILS, that we overlook the fact that he writes primary and secondary CIRCUIT. The primary circuit consists here of Ground-Secondary (coil)-Extra coil-topload and is also called the exciting circuit. Tesla writes that this CIRCUIT is preferably 3/4 wavelength. This leaves 1/4 wavelength for the secondary CIRCUIT = the free system = the 4th coil. This brings the complete circuit length at 1 wavelength which is for obvious reasons a very desirable situation.

The 1/4 wavelength building blocks is in my opinion introduced by Eric Dollard. I have mentioned on another occasion that Erics work differs from Tesla's on some points and this is one of those points. I think Eric has done many good, valuable things in this field, and I do not want to discredit his work, but on all instances where he deviates from Tesla, I will follow Tesla. As Eric said himself somewhere: There can only be 1 captain.
I choose Tesla as mine.

On the beat frequencies:
I think Tesla recognized that he needed a very low frequency. One that can not easily be obtained by simple coils. For this reason he resorted to beats. They must have something to do with earth-resonance and or Schumann-resonance as I suggested earlier.
Tesla states on several occasions that he wanted to know at which frequency the Earth would resonate and he has found this frequency to be 12.78 Hz.

Ernst.

[barbosi]

...
at high enough frequencies the dielectric becomes conductive, it's called dielectric leakage. A problem with klystrons, gyrotrons and wave guide tubes.
...

LOL: Ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaa!!!
That's an epiphany. An insulator is conducting and a conductor increases it's resistance at high frequencies? Wikipedia gives definitions carved in stone on what is a conductor... and what an insulator/dielectric is...
I'm confused. No, I reserve the right to change my mind and say that actually I'm amused.
No, I'm still confused: what on earth is a semiconductor then? is vacuum a semiconductor? Hell, I'm amused.

And in a more serious note, I find this thread very interesting, well documented and thought provoking. And also doesn't encourage mindless coils winding.

Regards.

[Ernst]

One coil to rule them all, ... and in the darkness bind them.

I have designed hundreds of coils from behind my computer in order to see how electrical properties change when dimensions are varied. I have found 2 phi (golden) ratio's while trying to optimize coils:
1 - in cylindrical coils, when the length is phi (0.618...) times the diameter a number of effects occur:
- the luminal velocity equals 1
- the coil wire length equals 1/4 wavelength of its resonance frequency
Normally a coil shows 2 different resonance frequencies, but because of the above with this coil these coincide.
2 - in flat spiral coils, when the thickness of the coil (outer radius - inner radius) equals phi (0.618...) times the inner diameter, you will get the maximum inductance for a given wirelength.

With these two in mind I have designed another coil combining these two as follows:
It is a multi-layered air core coil with an uneven number of layers, so to get the connections on different ends of the coil.
Each layer is a cylindrical coil as described in point 1 above. Meaning that the most inner layer is also the shortest and the most outer layer the longest.
Every layer is centered in the next.
The number of layers is such that point #2 above applies.
And finally, the winding pitch of each layer equals the distance from one layer to the next.

I do not have a program that can calculate the properties of this coil so I will just have to build one. I have just finished the first 3 layers (of 9) and progress is slow because of the difficulties involved.
I want to test this coil as extra coil in the system I am building. But also I am very curious for its properies (mainly inductance and SRF).
The coil is heavily insulated with a winding pitch of 8 mm.

As I mentioned that my garage Wardenclyffe project is getting a little big, this is an attempt to maximize the extra coil inductance so to minimize the required capacitance.

Ernst.

[GSM]

.. an attempt to maximize the extra coil inductance so to minimize the required capacitance.

About 30 years ago I did this by winding a non cylindrical single layer, using many fine enamelled copper wire turns per drilled slot in 'W' formers, with winding ends towards the centre axis. It had balanced field wrt a centre tap, and from memory the angles were 60 degrees, with each outer end turn folded back towards the coil mid point. I also tried two outer turns folded back with one less depth to the centre fold. These forms worked very well, but were not easy to make.

Cheers ........ Graham.

[Ernst]

@GSM,

I am trying to picture what you are describing but I am not sure if I understand it correctly. A picture/drawing would help....
But I think you misinterpreted what I intended to say:
I want to maximize the inductance of the extra coil (which has a pre-determined wire length) so that I can minimize the capacitance of the top-load.
From what I understand from your post, your design is an attempt to maximize the coil inductance while keeping the coils capacitance at a minimum.
Right?

Ernst.

[GSM]

From what I understand from your post, your design is an attempt to maximize the coil inductance while keeping the coils capacitance at a minimum.
Right?

Ernst.

Correct. A balanced homogenous field better shared by all winding turns wrt to free space when raised above ground.

Apologies, your aims were not understood.

Cheers .......... Graham.

[TeslaSecrets]

@ernst

This brings the complete circuit length at 1 wavelength which is for obvious reasons a very desirable situation.

I assumed the case was this:
Standing Sound Waves

However, I too refer to Tesla, before anyone else, myself included. He is definitely the captain. In so doing, I found I had a picture which supports exactly what your saying Ernst. In that Tesla was likely using n/2 or n wavelengths at Colorado Springs.

http://www.ovaltech.ca/ovlpics/origtesla.jpg
This is a page in Tesla's own hand, from his Colorado Springs notes.

You can see in the small images at the bottom, he is showing n/2, n, and n wavelengths in those drawings. In all three cases, he has points of greatest electrical vibration, at both ends of the system, into the top terminal capacitance and into the ground. So we have the strongest electrical vibration at the top terminal AND vibration at the ground connection as well. This is contrary to most of the common explanations of a Tesla coil, as a n/4 wave with a node at the ground connection, but makes completely sense if the Earth is an important part of the circuit.

Could the "circuit" Tesla refers to, be the return from the top terminal to the ground, external to the system, through the air and earth? As in Wardenclyffe itself, is only one half of the complete circuit.

It seems obvious to me, to think of the larger circuit, from Wardenclyffe to the upper ionosphere, then somewhere back down to the earth, and then through the earth back to the Wardenclyffe. Because, in this fashion, isn't the Wardenclyffe system become an electrical circuit connected to Earth and Space, much like his concept of connecting a gigantic thermopile to Earth and Space? Instead of using a gigantic physical thermopile, he used air and the Earth as the conductors for his electrical circuit? The gigantic thermopile he discusses is still in many respects just a large electrical circuit, albeit one requiring enormous masses of dissimilar metal conductors.

"Imagine a thermopile consisting of a number of bars of metal extending from the earth to the outer space beyond the atmosphere. The heat from below, conducted upward along these metal bars, would cool the earth or the sea or the air, according to the location of the lower parts of the bars, and the result, as is well known, would be an electric current circulating in these bars. The two terminals of the thermopile could now be joined through an electric motor and, theoretically, this motor would run on and on, until the medium below would be cooled down to the temperature of outer space. "
-Nikola Tesla

[TeslaSecrets]

Modes of Vibrations in Pipes | Tutorvista.com

Open here refers to open at both ends. Closed refers to closed at one end or node at one end. Most interestingly, the open ended system is better.

The frequencies of the harmonics present in an open pipe are proportional to the natural numbers. Owing to the presence of all harmonics, the quality of the note given out by an open pipe is richer and sweeter than that given out by a closed pipe.

The fundamental frequency of vibration in a closed pipe is given by v/4 and for the same length of the tube, the fundamental frequency in an open pipe is given by v/2 . Therefore, the fundamental frequency of an open pipe is said to be an octave higher than that of the closed pipe.

[TeslaSecrets]

@barbosi

I put one of those plasma bulbs, on top of my smaller Tesla coil one time, just to see what would happen. The round plasma bulbs that you can put your hands on and the plasma streamers are attracted to your hands.

The difference was, with the Tesla coil, actual spark discharges would come right out of the glass and into your skin, before you actually touched the glass. The glass was conducting very well in this case.

The other thing I found interesting, but is hard to explain, is that there was spherical banding inside the plasma globe. Like spherical layers of different colored plasma. In my bulb the layers were slightly green and slightly purple. Altering the frequency, these bands would expand or contract towards the center or outside of the globe. This could only be from some kind of longitudinal standing waves in the globe.

[garrettm4]

Re-post: Regenerative Receiver & Amplifier

I thought I would re-post some comments I made on another thread here, as they might serve as useful insight to the operation of the "basic" three coil Tesla Transformer using the earth as a coupling medium for communication purposes. Please note, that there are multiple alternate uses and coil configurations, the below description is simply for the telluric transmission of "intelligence", other uses are outside the scope of my analysis.

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@Ernst

I think you should look at the extra coil and secondary coil as "one-wire" transmission lines and not as "coils". This way you can calculate for the transmission line IMPEDANCE mismatch between the two. Eric Dollard recommends having an intentional mismatch for what I have determined to be a reflection amplifier used to "pump" more earth current from the secondary. Think about it, should start to make a lot of sense.

Also, if you care / have time, read posts:

New Link to Guillemin Comm. Nets. Vol. 2
(Get the book and watch this video by Dr. John N Shive.)

Characteristic Curves
(Negative resistance is described in an engineering "black box" view, to demystify how it works.)

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After reading all of Ramon Vargas' papers (on radio related topics) over at "Circuit Exchange International", I think finally I understand what Dr. Tesla and Mr. Dollard are saying.

Tesla says that the "energy" sent to the transmitting apparatus (i.e. "Tesla Coil") IS NOT spent (or exhausted) as RADIATION strewn into free-space. When examining the primary of the apparatus, we find an LC resonant tank. It is this very LC tank that STORES all the sent transmitting energy that ISN'T actually transmitted though the longitudinal link between transmitter and receiver. When employing a differential negative resistance, i.e. spark gap or other ΔV/ΔI two-terminal series network exerting -r, we have a REGENERATIVE AMPLIFIER, whereby effective resistance at the LC tank = 0. Thus we have a "magnifying transmitter", NO FREE ENERGY HERE, just plain simple circuit theory.

On the receiving end we employ the same apparatus but in a counter-wound form. Here the LC tank becomes a piece of a REGENERATIVE RECEIVER, whereby another ΔV/ΔI two-terminal series network exhibiting -r is used to eliminate dampening and thus amplify the signal via regenerative means. That is, the LC tank continuously stores energy (given to it by the secondary) until a limiting condition is observed. This process can passively amplify even the smallest of signals to incredible levels.

It can now be seen that the primary circuit, of any Tesla coil, becomes a load and source for the apparatus. This is why the LC tank LOWERS the resonant condition of the Secondary and Extra. That is, the primary places a resistive burden on the one-wire transmission line due to the storage of energy in the resonant tank.

A further examination of the Extra-Secondary interaction is found to be in the form of a "mechanical pump" - an analogy Tesla himself used frequently. The difference in impedance of the two one-wire transmission lines causes a reflected wave to be passed into the earth causing an increase in "earth current". Whereby the greater the earth current, the more "pressure" that can be exerted on a receiving unit. However, the greater earth current causes a simultaneous increase in terminal voltage, which Tesla himself has shown to be quite problematic.

Reducing the system into discrete elements:

Primary system:
-rLC regenerative Amplifier/Receiver

Primary coupling with Secondary:
T.E.M to L.M.D Transformation

Extra to Secondary:
"Reflection" Amplifier (This is why the Extra coil ISN'T ALWAYS USED. It serves as part of a special type of amplifier)

Secondary to Earth:
"Current Pump" for Longitudinal Coupling

Concluding, the reflection coefficient between Secondary and Extra determines the characteristics of the reflection amplifier. The "quadra-polar" oscillation of the secondary, by Primary coupling of *Transmitter*, is the conversion mechanism for the T.E.M to L.M.D. transformation. Whereby Kirchhoff's circuital laws are no longer obeyed and the DIELECTRIC and MAGNETIC energy oscillating in the coil is of equal magnitude for a balanced condition as seen in a transmission line. Thus the secondary reduces to a one-wire transmission line that is loosely coupled with the primary and reflectively coupled with the Extra. Forming a T.E.M. to L.M.D. "current pump" that uses the Earth earth as an analogue of an inflatable balloon. A receiver recovers the pressure wave sent though the Earth "balloon" as an oscillation of the Secondary in the *Receiver* circuit. The Extra coil of the Reciever serves again as a form of reflection amplifier and the -rLC tank of the primary de-couples energy from the Secondary into a regenerative resonant amplifier. Finally, a demodulator can be connected to the Receiver Primary and the intelligence imparted to the signal can finally be heard. All of this being done telluricly through the earth and NOT though free-space as a Hertzian wave would be.

That's my best effort at describing the system using NORMAL explanations, no free-energy no exotic physics shenanigans. Just all very common radio techniques; transmission line theory, -r regenerative circuits and reflection amplifiers. However, the T.E.M. to L.M.D. section is off limits to convention, but it has been proven to be real so I don't think this serves as an "exotic" abstraction.

*Final note, Mr. Dollard makes reference to the Primary being either a constant current or a constant potential circuit. This is due to the usage of either a ΔV/ΔI = -r or ΔI/ΔV = -g. That is, when the positive slope dissipative parameter is equal to a negative slope dissipative parameter resistance (series elements) and conductance (parallel elements) are no longer of constant values but become a dynamic linear value to the source supply. This forms either a constant current circuit (when |-r| = |+r|) or a constant potential circuit (|-g| = |+g|). Hence why Mr. Dollard makes reference to both in connection to spark gaps and the Farnsworth multipactor tube, as they exhibit negative current or voltage slopes.

Some thoughts,
Garrett M