Extreme High Voltage: Water-Drop Triggered Spark Gap Slideshow 1
The camera captures the event: The arc apparently does not penetrate the water drop but runs along the surface of the drop. Watch in HD!
The electrodes are charged to 15 kV or so by the flyback transformer / 4 nF capacitor stack. The small drops of water dripping from above fall precisely between the electrodes. The field from the positively charged electrode pulls the droplet over to the right a bit. The presence of the droplet causes the gap to fire, and the flash of light freezes the event in the camera. You can see the droplet captured there, as if hovering within the arc.
After the arc goes out the droplet explodes — I think — and splashes water onto the sides of the chamber. I can’t quite figure out how to capture this event yet. Maybe with external stroboscopic illumination using the Strobotach and a time delay….
“I created this video with the YouTube Slideshow Creator”
(http://www.youtube.com/upload)
Audio is from the offered audio swap choices. “Kitty in the Window” by Poddington Bear. Thanks!!