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How to make a plasma arc

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Leo17

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hi, im knew to electrical stuff, but i love it! I want to create a plasma arc like the one in this video i don't need it to sing just the arc and it be able to make a 6 inch jump. I have no clue how to build one but i know a good amount of electrical stuff i just dont know how to make this so as close to step by step instructions would be much helpful! thank you to all who answer!

well i just tried to post it and it wont let me post the link so just go to google and type in plasma speaker and it will be the first one! I need a arc like that but a little bigger
 

If you are new to electronics, then I would heavily advise against this type of project. Getting a six inch arc requires around 30KV, which is enough to kill a person several times over. The circuitry behind these devices is also pretty complicated and requires a deep understanding of EM physics and RF electronics.

If you're willing to learn, then I recommend taking a look at 4hv.org, which is dedicated to these kinds of high voltage/energy projects. My advice would be to start on something small like flyback transformers or spark gap tesla coils.
 

well i will have supervision from a more experienced person who has been doing this type of thing for along time, but i wanted to get an idea of what we are going to do because he is out of town right now and wont be back for two weeks so anyone willing to tell me how to build one will be much appreciated
 

Well such a system has two major components. First is a dual resonant transformer. Dual resonant transformers have a secondary with hundreds of tightly packed windings which is self resonant at some frequency (usually at least a few megahertz, for a small coil). The primary will be somewhere between two and ten turns, and is loosely coupled to the secondary. A capacitor is normally put in series with the primary in order to tune out some leakage inductance. The function of the transformer is to step up the voltage of the driver to very high voltage. The tuning of dual resonance transformers is in itself a strange art. There is plenty of math out there used to describe it, but in general it turns out being a trial and error process (but it's absolutely necessary for good results).

The second major part of the system is the driver circuitry. There are a few different topologies that can be used, such as tube amps, class E amps, royer oscillators, etc. If I were to build one I would probably go for a class E amp (less issues with stability). Also a class E amp can be driven with a digital source. However, getting a powerful amplifier is itself a difficult process.

To make the arc play audio, it's just a matter of modulating the power delivered from the amplifier. This is commonly done by controlling the supply voltage to the amp (but can also be done with PWM).
 

well i dont need it to play audio, but what kind of power supply would you suggest i was thinking it would be a 12v car battery?
 

12V could work, but it depends pretty much completely on the coil. The design of the coil will determine how much the driver voltage is stepped up at the topload/spark gap. That's why when people do this, they pretty much always start with the design of the coil.
 

how many volts do you think i will need to make a plasma arc jump 6 inches?
≈120,000V but highly variable due to air pressure, humidity and dust particles. Once an arc is formed, it can be stretched out to a greater length without increasing the voltage because the dielectric is now an ionized gas instead of air. This property is demonstrated best with a Jacob's Ladder. It's also why a fluorescent tube requires a higher voltage to start than to maintain.
 

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