Arcs from Van de Graaff Generators and Tesla Coils

[John Steaver]

hi, I heard from research that 10kv= 1cm arc. I was just wandering why the van de graaff generators can have 500kv but cant go to 5m. can tesla coils do this? if not why is this?

 

[GPG]

500KV/10KV = 50cm

 

[Colin Mitchell]

The distance is also due to the frequency of the voltage.

 

[John Steaver]

so a higher voltage frequency means longer arc distance?

 

[Colin Mitchell]

You can look all this up on the internet.
It all has to do with IONISATION of the air.