10 MV arcs are scary. I don’t think I would be using the brass ball Paschen method. 200 capacitors in series seems more civilized and less scary, though notably more expensive.Mikado14 wrote:I would develop my own device using Paschen's Law. If not appropriate, there are devices out there that can inductively couple and there are capacitive transducers. These all cost money and when your using bean can lids, well, the budget is low. Therefore, construct something after doing the math with Paschen's formula using the two brass ball method and the dielectric constant for air.
But none of this is anything more than talk; I don’t plan on building a 10MV supply. As for me building a flame-jet generator, I don’t really have a need for one. I think MagicBill is going to build one as a proof of concept, and I would be interested to see his results. Wonder what kind of current a flame-jet generator puts out? I picture a flame-jet generator as being in the electrostatic device genre along with Van De Graaff, etc; high voltage low current, but I could be wrong. I know the price of propane follows the price of oil so a flame-jet would probably be expensive to operate. If it turns out that it generates about the same amount of current as a Van De Graaff then the economics are definitely tilted in favor of Van De Graaff. That is, unless you have a B2 that needs 10MV for the leading edge of the wings and all that wonderful jet exhaust is otherwise just going to waste.
GV