A Laboratory Method of Producing High Potentials

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Abstract
Details are given of the experimental arrangement by which, using Tesla coils in oil, very high potentials have been produced and measured. Excited at the rate of 120 sparks per second Tesla coils have been operated at 3,000,000 volts in ordinary transformer oil at atmospheric pressure. In oil under a pressure of 500 pounds per square inch, voltages as high as 5,200,000 have been produced with intermittent excitation. These voltages (peak values) are measured by a simple capacity-potentiometer, in which an insulated electrode "picks up" a known fraction of the total voltage, this fractional voltage being measured by means of a sphere gap. Measurements are given of the voltage-distribution along Tesla coils. Calculations and measurements of the efficiency and power-output of such coils show that at 120 sparks per second, a coil operating at 5,000,000 volts provides sufficient power, if used to accelerate helium nuclei in a suitable vacuum-tube, to yield the equivalent of about 2,600 grams of radium.

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