Krypton and Neon Globes
This video shows two of the globes from some of my most recent plasma fillings. They are simple one gas fillings. I am still feeling my way around and don't want to waste gas making mistakes.
Also note at one point I say that the white filling is xenon when it is not.
I'm starting to get a clearer idea of what's going on with gas fills. There are at least three different things that seem to contribute to the dynamics of the plasma.
First is the gas. Neon has the least dynamic and xenon the most. This seems to be related to the molecular weight of the gas and it's thermal conductivity. Iodine seems to increase the "weight" of the discharge and allows ropy texture with neon. It also adds to this texture with krypton.
The pressure also adds to this dynamic. Higher pressure gives more snaky/ropy texture until the gas becomes high enough pressure to stop easily breaking down. Then you get the more frantic lightning discharges. Since xenon is so heavy and low thermal conductivity you can get the snake discharges at a lower pressure and the globes are still easy to start.
Finally the size of the glass has an effect. Narrow tubes seem to constrain the hot plasma and allow the snake texture to exist, larger tubes or globes allow the hot air to spread out and tend to kill the rope texture.
All these observations are subjective and may not end up being true. But it's how I'm beginning to make sense of what I am seeing.
One of the questions I have had for a while is if it is possible to power two or more plasma glass with one power supply. I've noticed that directly hooking them up in parallel does not work since one globe always breaks down at a lower voltage and ends up using all the current.
However if I use the same capacitive effect used to power up the globes initially by just wrapping the insulated wire around the neck of one of the globes and then attaching the second globe more conventionally I can get two or more globes going at once. I'm not sure how useful this will be but it gives me something to try out.
It's hot today and I guess it's going to get hotter. On track to be the hottest year on record. the frog of mankind continues to sit in a pan of slowly boiling water while they argue about whether it's all really happening. Poor dumb monkeys...
Krypton and Neon Globes
This video shows two of the globes from some of my most recent plasma fillings. They are simple one gas fillings. I am still feeling my way around and don't want to waste gas making mistakes.
Also note at one point I say that the white filling is xenon when it is not.
I'm starting to get a clearer idea of what's going on with gas fills. There are at least three different things that seem to contribute to the dynamics of the plasma.
First is the gas. Neon has the least dynamic and xenon the most. This seems to be related to the molecular weight of the gas and it's thermal conductivity. Iodine seems to increase the "weight" of the discharge and allows ropy texture with neon. It also adds to this texture with krypton.
The pressure also adds to this dynamic. Higher pressure gives more snaky/ropy texture until the gas becomes high enough pressure to stop easily breaking down. Then you get the more frantic lightning discharges. Since xenon is so heavy and low thermal conductivity you can get the snake discharges at a lower pressure and the globes are still easy to start.
Finally the size of the glass has an effect. Narrow tubes seem to constrain the hot plasma and allow the snake texture to exist, larger tubes or globes allow the hot air to spread out and tend to kill the rope texture.
All these observations are subjective and may not end up being true. But it's how I'm beginning to make sense of what I am seeing.
One of the questions I have had for a while is if it is possible to power two or more plasma glass with one power supply. I've noticed that directly hooking them up in parallel does not work since one globe always breaks down at a lower voltage and ends up using all the current.
However if I use the same capacitive effect used to power up the globes initially by just wrapping the insulated wire around the neck of one of the globes and then attaching the second globe more conventionally I can get two or more globes going at once. I'm not sure how useful this will be but it gives me something to try out.
It's hot today and I guess it's going to get hotter. On track to be the hottest year on record. the frog of mankind continues to sit in a pan of slowly boiling water while they argue about whether it's all really happening. Poor dumb monkeys...