SpudFiles

I have a question about sparks... what determines how long of a gap a spark can jump... is it the voltage.... amperage.... wattage...what.... thanks in advance for all the help that im sure you guys will give... also given all the information... is there a (mathematical) way to estimate how far the spark will jump

im not shure about mathmatical but i just tested with different lenths by unscrewing the screws it worked for me experimentation is the key to a sucsesful potato cannon

i did a search on google and found This. hope it helps

I understand that dragon but i am a very exact person... when i do something... i research it, draw schetches, see what other people think, draw blue prints, build it... also i dont want to have to keep drilling holes in my beauty...anyways that was just kinda a side thought... what I really want to know is what determines how far a spark can jump... but thank you anyways dragon.. and in response to ur answer spud, i'm kinda lost on that thing, do you know what it means by Breakdown...???

yes i do know what it means to breake down // break·down Audio pronunciation of "breakdown" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (brkdoun)
n.


1. The act or process of failing to function or continue.
2. The condition resulting from this: a breakdown in communication.
2. Electricity. The abrupt failure of an insulator or insulating medium to restrict the flow of current.
3. A typically sudden collapse in physical or mental health.
4. An analysis, an outline, or a summary consisting of itemized data or essentials.
5. Disintegration or decomposition into parts or elements.
6. A noisy, energetic American country dance.
(http://www.dictonary.com) ok i got it of dictionary.com but i didn't want to write it out k

wow okay um thanks... im still kinda at a loss about kindof hard to follow... if one of you would mine trying to translate it so that my weak mind can comprehend it, that would be awesome

this page might help it's for vande grph generators but it might calculate lower voltages http://www.carnicom.com/elf33.htm sorry if it doesn't help but i tried

By "breakdown" they mean the procces by which the air fails at being an insulator. This is when a spark occurs.

As to the spark length of a peizo or other such device, see <a href="http://www.kronjaeger.com/hv/hv/msr/spk/">this</a>.

Thanks, but unfortunatley all of these are for dry air... and propane is another matter... maybe ill build some kind of test chamber where i can easily move the electrodes back and forth and can fine tune the voltage

As it said in one of those sites, the spark length is equal to constant*V/gas density. The density of propane is 1.8 g/l compared to the 1.4g/l for air... thus the addition of the propane to the situation shortens the spark gap ~1.5%.
That's not very darn much.

thanks, so i guess the answer to my orginal question of what makes it change, is that it is the voltage... thank you every one for the help...

I would just play with it and see how far I could move the pieces of metal and make the spark jump across. But that's just me...

It's about 50,000 volts per inch, wattage doesnt matter

Montauk512 wrote:It's about 50,000 volts per inch, wattage doesnt matter

O rly?I though someone told me 100,000v, but eh what do I know.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras nec placerat erat. Vivamus dapibus egestas nunc, at eleifend neque. Suspendisse potenti. Sed dictum lacus eu nisl pretium vehicula. Ut faucibus hendrerit nisi. Integer ultricies orci eu ultrices malesuada. Fusce id mauris risus. Suspendisse finibus ligula et nisl rutrum efficitur. Vestibulum posuere erat pellentesque ornare venenatis. Integer commodo fermentum tortor in pharetra. Proin scelerisque consectetur posuere. Vestibulum molestie augue ac nibh feugiat scelerisque. Sed aliquet a nunc in mattis.