Tesla's ether theories and longitudinal waves explained in "Wardenclyffe"

[Ernst]

kyle_dellaquila In the experiment with the RF-amps the AM got completely lost, so no sword-like streamers, no QCW effect. And no point changing the input wave form.

As for the coherer, My idea is something like this:
First one has to remember that the wave does not necessarily have an electric component. It is a density wave in a neutral gaseous medium which is responsible for electric effects.
Let's consider a charged capacitor. When such a density wave passes, for a short moment the pressure of the medium between the plates increases. (as a result of the increased density)
From the perspective of the capacitor plates this is the same as increasing the distance between the plates, as more matter now is between the plates.
This results in a short moment of decreased capacitance, which with the same charge being present will result in a higher voltage.
Withe the grains in the coherer it is much the same, but as the coherer is already pushed to its (voltage) limit, the increase of voltage will bridge the gap between a few grains, thus putting more stress on the remaining un-bridged grains and thus causing an avalanche. Once a current flows, so called micro welding occurs.

Now that I write this down, I think a capacitor could be used as well... in a similar set-up as in an electret microphone. No need to de-cohere...
Worth an experiment...

Ernst.

[Ernst]

OK, Capacitor-as-Cohere Test #1
Setup_
IMG_20200918_104545.jpg
Result:
TEK00151.PNG
We see a very short pulse of about 0.75V which is about 8% of the voltage on the capacitor.
It's not conclusive evidence, but it is at least supporting evidence....
It would be interesting to see what we can see during a lightning storm...


Ernst.

[kyle_dellaquila]

This brings into question the mysterious nature of the piezo crystal. I figure that most of the radiation from a piezo would be magnetic oriented in the path of the arc flow. Is there directionality in which the measurements are different? (keeping the distance of the main radiation point at a exact and fixed position) Really want to assure that the waves being emanated are in the most longitudinal orientation... but in the name of Tesla.. it all may be oriented longitudinally.

What if there was no battery present? Would the measured pulse be significantly weaker?

What if a different component is used? Like a resistor? I bet less effective by a great margin based on your description above.

It would seem to me that it doesn't matter how the capacitor is made. (axial spiral vs plate stack) I figure that there is no physical flexing.. it is the density of this medium varying the capacity in between the physical makeup of the capacitor.

-Kyle Dell'Aquila

[Ernst]

In the above experiment I was trying to get the amplitude a bit better visible on the scope, but I didn't give much attention to the time axis. So here is a better scope shot:
TEK00156.PNG
Now, indeed, it would be interesting to see what would happen if I started out with an uncharged capacitor.
Excellent point!
Will try that at once.


Ernst.

[Ernst]

After many tries, I think that the wire loop contributes the most to what we see on the scope. But it is still possible that there is some effect. It looks as if it is easier to get a > 1V pulse when there is charge on the capacitor. But to be honest the results are not convincing.
Here some more scope shots:
Best result with half a volt on the capacitor (note that the vertical scale is adjusted)
TEK00162.PNG
Best result with the capacitor shorted:
TEK00164.PNG
The result is almost identical.

So, we need more ideas!


Ernst.

[Ernst]

I need to find some coax cable. That would probably significantly reduce the unwanted signal measured above. I should have some but I haven't found it yet.
Maybe I can also make some sort of funnel to increase the effect at the point of the capacitor.
I forgot to explain that I used a high value (10uF/16V) SMD capacitor because I wanted the physical size of the capacitor to be as small as possible because the wavelength that we are measuring could be small. Just like the filings in a coherer the measuring device should be small compared to this wavelength.
The thing that may be reducing the effect that I want to see is the insulating material in the capacitor.
I'll try again as soon as I can spare some time.

Meanwhile, I am also working on a Tesla coil driver that can be driven with TTL or CMOS logic.
I have tried this circuit:
FU33C labelled.jpg which works fine at low frequencies (<100KHz) but at the frequencies I need, it isn't fast enough.
So I will change the single MOSFET into a half bridge which can switch the grid of the FU33C much faster.
Currently working on that. (new PCB's and parts should be arriving soon)


Ernst.

[kyle_dellaquila]

I fear that the scope probe represents it's own capacitance that may be interfering with the experiment.
The hypothesis is that the "acoustic" longitudinal waves passing by will increase/decrease the capacitance of a capacitor.
I prose an alternative for measuring variations in capacity by measuring the resonant frequency of an isolated tank circuit (fig.e):
bNBp09W.jpg
The moment of compression of the neighborhood should momentarily increase the density of the capacitor &/or inductor – one would see a momentary f-res drop and vis versa if the neighborhood density decreases.
This way we will be able to assure the tank capacitance/inductance will swamp the inductive/capacitive properties of any external probe.
It will be difficult to isolate the tank circuit components entirely from the passing wave. The speed in which the spectrum analyzer could sample may not be fast enough...
Unless the components are far removed from one another (fig. f), one may detect the increase in medium-gas density of both the capacitor and inductor.
wmsKfJC.jpg
So assuming that the tank capacitor network as a whole will experience an increase of density: the f-res should drop. A spectrum analyzer should show the peak jag towards the left.

Thoughts?

-Kyle Dell'Aquila

[kyle_dellaquila]

And for everyone's understanding of this compressible behavior, see this diagram:
1htUrsA.png
-Kyle Dell'Aquila

[sparky53]

Hello Ernst and Kyle,

please forgive me as I am writing this now, I am too late for that in the discussion, but maybe it is a thing worth to think about :

As I am a process engineer , the presumed "duality in character" of the ether of having both the qualities of a gas and at the same time of a liquid reminds me strongly
of a "supercritical fluid".

A "supercritical fluid" posesses both the qualities of a gas (like elasticity or better compressibility and also high permeability, low viscosity) and the qualities of a liquid (like high density, high capacity to work as a solvent) at the same time.

The needed "heat of evaporation" for a "supercritical fluid" to make the transition (="phase change") from "liquid state" to the "gaseous state" is ZERO.

Words like "CONDENSER" or "coherer" sound to me as if the people back in the day were seeing the ether like a "supercritical fluid", like something that can be condensed to have more of a liquid quality (store "energy" in a capacitor; ether in liquified form)
and like something that could be "evaporated" with no effort to create something like a magnetic field (a vapour cloud of ether particles..)

ERNST, please don't be too harsh on me ...


sparky53

[Ernst]

Hi sparky53,
I can understand what you are thinking and it makes sense. The word condenser comes from a time when people thought that "electricity", whatever that was "condensed" into a more dense form inside of a capacitor. The word coherer however, refers to the filings in the tube that "cohere" or lump together when a certain wave passes through it.
When we think of a fluid, we think of a very dense gas in which molecules start having inter-molecular attraction/bounds. The strange thing is that Tesla does not think in that way, especially when it comes to the ether. Tesla and other early scientists think of the ether as a homogeneous substance, that is not made up of smaller particles.
As such it is also very difficult to say whether it is in (linear un-accelerated) motion or not and because of that it is not a problem in Special Relativity (as is generally believed).
Tesla says (lecture May 1891):

But of all the views on nature, the one which assumes one matter and one force, and a perfect uniformity throughout, is the most scientific and most likely to be true.

This one matter is the fluid ether and on it acts this one force.
Then in April 1908:

According to an adopted theory, every ponderable atom is differentiated from a tenuous fluid, filling all space merely by spinning motion, as a whirl of water in a calm lake. By being set in movement this fluid, the ether, becomes gross matter. Its movement arrested, the primary substance reverts to its normal state.

This matches an old theory on the 4 elements; here we see two elements, a fluid (element water) and a force (element fire) and through their interaction two other elements are created; a solid (element earth) and a gas (element air).
Adding this all up we get something very similar to Maxwell's ether model, in which we find ether vortex cells making up a solid and particles moving between those cells. Although Maxwell doesn't say it with so many words, those particles would make up a gaseous medium.
Maxwell then shows how these vortex cells can explain magnetism and those particles electrical effects.
That then brings us back to Tesla who says that immersed in the fluid ether there HAS to be a gaseous medium that is responsible for electrical effects. (lecture Feb, 1892)

But he must remain in doubt as to whether the effects observed are due wholly to the molecules, or atoms, of the gas which chemical analysis discloses to us, or whether there enters into play another medium of a gaseous nature, comprising atoms, or molecules, immersed in a fluid pervading the space. Such a medium, surely must exist,...

(All of this you can find in much more detail in The Science of Tesla's Magic)
Gentile enough?


Ernst.

[Ernst]

kyle_dellaquila
Yes, using a resonant circuit also is an option. But I fear that a spectrum analyzer is way too slow to detect the effects. Also introducing a coil (inductance may also be affected) may also interfere. Suppose if I have a circuit that counts the nano seconds of a period and reports if it is off by more than xx%, that could work. But if the increase and decrease fall within the same period, the overall period duration may average out as if nothing happened. So the resonance frequency of the circuit must be much higher than the frequency of the wave that you're trying to detect.
If we focus on 11.7 Hz waves, that should be no problem though... But for a quick test with a piezo sparker, a tazer module or ignition coil it complicates matters.

BTW in 30 Jan 1901 Tesla talks about his experiments in this area. But I think the introduction of a coil has led him to erroneous conclusions. It is not often that I would disagree with Tesla but I have repeated this experiment and I have ascertained that by raising the top-load more of the coil gets used as inductor and for that reason the inductance of the circuit increases and the frequency drops.

,
Ernst.

[Ernst]

Here is the diagram of the half-bridge driver that I am currently working on:
HalfBridge SCH.jpg Here is what happens (if all goes as planned):
A 300-400 KHz input signal is supplied at the "input"-connector.
U7a and U7b, together with the 820+var resistor and 120pF capacitor form a delay circuit of about 100 ns. This is done to create some "dead-time" for the MOSFETs.
When the input signal and the delayed signal are both low, the output of U6a will be high which will drive the low-side MOSFET into a conducting state and thus the output connector low (GND).
When the input signal switches high, the input and the delayed input will be unequal for about 100 ns and both MOSFETs will be switched off.
When the input signal and the delayed signal are both high, the output of U7d will be low and since we are using an inverting driver for the high-side MOSFET, this will drive that MOSFET into a conducting state and thus the output connector high (300V).
When the input signal switches low, the input and the delayed input will be unequal for about 100 ns and both MOSFETs will be switched off.
The U2 and U3 together with the many 10uF caps and the SiC diode take care of the level switching which is needed because we use 2 N-channel MOSFETs.
All components are selected on speed, as I want a minimum delay.
Initially I had a diagram with GaN MOSFETs which are even faster, but that came with some SMD components that were so small that I cannot solder them.
This diagram is fast and can be hand soldered.
The GND of this circuit will be held at -150V for the FU33C tube, so the output will switch the grid of that tube between -150V and +150V.
If this circuit works, I can design any digital circuit to drive this tube and through that a Tesla coil up to 5KW.


Ernst.

[kyle_dellaquila]

From the 1901-01-30 "Tesla's New Discovery" article:
"

Continuing the investigation of this astonishing phenomenon I observed that the capacity varied with the elevation of the conducting surface above the ground and I soon ascertained the law of this variation. The capacity increased as the conducting surface was elevated, in open space, from one-half to three-quarters of 1 percent per foot of elevation. In buildings, however, or near large structures, this increase often amounted to 50 percent per foot of elevation, and this alone will show to what extent many of the scientific experiments recorded in technical literature are erroneous. In determining the length of the coils or conductors such as I employ in my system of wireless telegraphy, for instance, the rule which I have given is, in view of the above, important to observe."

"Far more interesting, however, for men of science is the fact I observed later, that the capacity undergoes an annual variation with a maximum in summer, and a minimum in winter. In Colorado, where I continued with improved methods of investigations begun in New York, and where I found the rate of increase slightly greater, I furthermore observed that there was a diurnal variation with a maximum during the night. Further, I found that sunlight causes a slight increase in capacity. The moon also produces an effect, but I do not attribute it to its light."

o5jvOL8.jpg
But in the same article, I got confused with the following paragraph:

"The importance of these observations will be better appreciated when it is stated that owing to these changes of a quantity supposed to be constant an electrical circuit does not vibrate at a uniform rate, but its rate is modified in accordance with the modifications of the capacity. Thus a circuit vibrates a little slower at an elevation than when at a lower level. An oscillating system, as used in telegraphy without wires, vibrates a little quicker when the ship gets into the harbour than when on open sea. Such a circuit oscillates quicker in the winter than in the summer, though it be at the same temperature, and a trifle quicker at night than in daytime, particularly if the sun is shining."

I bolded the sentence that threw me off. Wouldn't the tall buildings increase the capacity causing the ship to vibrate a little slower?

Looking at CSN – Oct. 23, 1899, we can see his method for determining the increase or decrease of the elevated capacity. I have redrawn it for slightly improved clarity:
HftZIH3.jpg
As far as this one entry goes, this looks like the method in which Tesla deduced the increase or decrease in resonant frequency – by observing the adjusted spark gap of the secondary coil. As to how Tesla eventually back-calculated the capacity of these elevated terminals (in Farads), I am curious to know how he was able to be so confident in the precision of his measured picoFarads.

Something curious to note here... In a closed circuit, the closer the wires or components are to one another, the greater the stray capacitance will be. In a raised monopole arial, the opposite seems to hold true. One would think that the higher the insulated capacity is from the ground it is opposing – the smaller the capacitance would be between the ground and the plate/object... but Tesla measures the opposite. The higher the insulated object, the lower the resonant frequency.

rRVDc1R.jpg
-Kyle Dell'Aquila

[Ernst]

Yes, it is an odd article, a bit unlike Tesla's usual thorough work.
If you dissect it you'll get:
1 - Capacity increase as height increases -> slower oscillations at a height
2 - Capacity increases near large structures -- quicker oscillations near large structures
3 - Capacity increases in the summer -> slower oscillations during summer
4 - Capacity increases in the night -- quicker oscillations at night
5 - Capacity increases in Sun light -> slower oscillations in the Sun light
The bold statements seem to contradict what has been said earlier.

What evidence do we have?
- in astronomy we see light bending near massive objects. This means that closer to the object light travels slower. This means that closer to the object the electric permittivity must be greater. This means that, contrary to what Tesla says, one would expect the capacitance to decrease with height.
Merging this with Tesla's theories we get:
As electricity clings to matter, near massive objects we should expect to see more electricity, so a denser medium increases the electric permittivity. (this is contrary to what I initially assumed).
So statement #1 above must be false. This matches Kyle's suspicion. Also, as I have repeated his experiment and found a different cause this could explain Tesla's erroneous conclusion.
The first half of statement #2 could be true, but I don't expect the effect will be measurable.
In the summer (northern hemisphere) the Earth is closer to the Sun and will therefore see a denser medium. So statement #3 can be true.
As stated earlier in this thread, the pressure of the solar radiation pushes the Earth's electricity to the night side, So, the first half of statement 4 can be true.
There is reason to believe that Tesla's primary cosmic rays (PCR) consist of the same particles that make up electricity, so this could be explaining statement #5 if it wasn't for the fact that these rays are "immensely penetrative" so they wouldn't be stopped by clouds or anything. It wouldn't even matter much if you are on the night side or day side of the planet. So it is not PCR... but then how would light influence the capacitance?

As this is a very strange article I'd like to verify its source. This is what I found:
The original article in the Sun is barely readable. But as newspapers often did in those times there are a few copies in other newspapers:
The Daily Morning Journal and Courier
Davenport Morning Star
Notice the differences.
It is possible that the reporter made some mistakes here. It could also be that Tesla was very excited about his accomplishments in Colorado Springs and then quickly did a few more experiments along this line, not giving it due attention.
I reckon both these are likely to be true.


Ernst.

[kyle_dellaquila]

I may remember wrong, but I felt like I read somewhere from Tesla that the presence of high voltage (oscillations?) increase the capacity of an elevated terminal. (I'm having a hard time tracing where I read that)
It would seem that Tesla's method for measuring oscillations of a given circuit always rely on the presence of high voltage. (can not measure without "activating" the terminal)
I would imagine that the presence of sunlight/heat raise the conductivity of the surrounding air around the terminal and/or increasing the mean free distance between molecules – effectively increasing the "size" or "reach" of the terminal.. i.e. increase of capacitance.
Raising the terminal up into the air will expose the terminal to reduced air-pressure/medium-density... which increases the terminal's "reach" as well.
0XiMKo3.png
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6MsIeMj.jpg
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-Kyle Dell'Aquila