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Were the first z-pinch machines really this simple?

Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 2:27 am
by ohiovr
Take a pair of electrodes separated by the desired distance in a deuterium envelope and apply a few million volts to get a discharge?

Re: Were the first z-pinch machines really this simple?

Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 2:21 pm
by ohiovr
The big discussion way back when was instability, apparently the filaments twisted around and slammed into the container walls. I find that interesting, isn't lightning pretty stable? It seems to branch into areas of lesser resistance but I don't see it doing curly q's in the air too often...

Re: Were the first z-pinch machines really this simple?

Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 2:26 pm
by ohiovr
On the other hand I have observed large curling effects when messing around with plasma ball toys, the plasma definitely looks unstable in that case. But isn't that an AC discharge vs DC?