4500 kw

[BodybyFisher]

Maybe someone could explain this in more detail. I think I see a switch opening, this looks like a residual connection, after its open. Why did the arch go up, and now stay in a straight line, moisture?

[TDK]

BBF,

I think the video should have noted it as perhaps 450 Kv or 450,000-volts, a measure of electrical "pressure" (so to speak), instead of 4500 Kw or kilowatt, which is a measure of electrical volumn or workload.

As you may know, it is more efficient to distribute power at very high voltages, but the practical limit on high voltage power lines is about 1,200,000-volts or things within several hundred feet get fried every now and then. That's one of the reasons power lines are high and we stay far, far below...

Regarding the video itself, I believe the air is ionized by the initial spark and the arc proceeds along the ionized path, until it cannot maintain it. Perhaps the heat rises, ionizing the air above and the arc climbs. I have experiance only with some 69,000-volt flashovers, (and those in multiple series were quite enough...)

Nicolas Telsa pioneered much of this science and a related field is laser-guided high voltage streamer proprogation. Yes they really want to direct bolts of lighting, Granted this application is usually for a given energy-related process, although the Military is probably interested as well.

Here is an interesting link and info from it:

<a href="http://205.243.100.155/frames/longarc.htm#Longspark" target="_blank">http://205.243.100.155/frames/longarc.htm#Longspark</a>

Through research at facilities such as these, it has been determined that switching surges on Extra High Voltage (EHV) electrical power transmission systems can initiate streamers (conductive plasma channels) which can then lead to flashovers to another phase or to ground, causing circuit breaker trips and unplanned outages. Streamer formation and growth is presently the major limiting factor in practical EHV power transmission system design. This phenomenon constrains maximum transmission voltages to about 1.2 million volts AC. The highest operating AC transmission voltage is 1.15 million volts (a 696 kilometer transmission line that connects hydropower generating plants in Western Siberia, through Kazakhstan, to Russia).

And a very simple description of an proposed insulator design...

High-voltage electrical apparatus including electrically conducting rings or members intimately bonded to an associated dielectric barrier disposed between two spaced electrodes or conductors of the electrical apparatus having a dielectric medium disposed therebetween. In order to prevent the movement of a high-voltage propagating streamer along the dielectric barrier, the electrically conducting rings or shields are disposed along surfaces of the barrier and spaced from one another to isolate or compartmentalize certain sections of the barrier surface so that when a propagating streamer impinges upon the surface of one of the shields, it will be arrested and be prevented from further movement or propagation along the surface of the dielectric barrier.

And then some "light" reading...(pun intended)

<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ounA9pyPO...result#PPA18,M1" target="_blank">http://books.google.com/books?id=ounA9pyPO...result#PPA18,M1</a>

Enjoy !

[Cadillac Jim]

It looks like the original video is on TDK's first link, and the text says it's 500,000 Volts.

The URL in the link, given as an IP address, is http://capturedlightning.com/ which is an alias of http://capturedlightning.com/. Click on BIG Arcs and Sparks, on the right near the top of the page on the right (you'll recognize the cover graphic for the link) for the page with the video and text on it -- TDK's link.

[BodybyFisher]

Very interesting stuff, thanks TDK, I need to digest all of this info. Thanks for that link