GENERATING AN ELECTRIC FIELD
In order to ionize the Xenon gas in the glass tube,
the 3 volts DC at the battery must be transformed
into hundreds of volts DC. One of the electronic
devices used to “step up” voltages is called a
transformer. Transformers, however, only work with
AC voltages. You can think of a transformer as a
lever similar to the one shown in Figure 4. A small
movement on the short end of the lever will produce
a large swing on the other end. Since the lever does
not create energy, the power on one end must equal
the power on the other end. Therefore, the force
times the distance on the short end must equal the
force times the distance on the other end (as shown
in Figure 4).
Just like the lever, the transformer must have a
moving voltage (AC) to work. If the movement on
the short end of the lever equals zero, the
movement on the long end will also be zero.
Likewise, if DC is applied to one side of a
transformer, the output on the other side will be
zero. Since the transformer cannot create energy,
the power on one side must equal the power on the
other side.
Electrical power is measured by
multiplying the voltage times the current (V x I).
Figure 5 shows the method used to transform the 3
volts from the battery to 200 volts needed for a
strong electric field.
An oscillator is an electronic circuit similar to the
pendulum in a grandfather clock.
Once the
pendulum is started in motion, it will use only a
small amount of energy from the main spring to
keep it swinging at the exact same frequency. It is
this stable frequency rate that sets the time
accurately. If the weight is moved up the stick, the
frequency increases.
This is called tuning the
frequency of the pendulum.
In electronics, an
oscillator circuit also has tunable elements.
The
inductor in a tuned electrical circuit is equivalent to
the length of the pendulum (see Figure 6).
By changing the position of the iron core in the
inductor, the inductance can be changed to tune the
oscillator to a desired radio frequency, just like
changing the weight of the pendulum would change
its frequency.
MAKING THE FIRST ION
When the electric field is placed across the Xenon
tube nothing happens because there are no ions in
the tube to start the avalache process. A second
transformer is used to generate a very high voltage
spike on a piece of wire placed along side the tube.
This transformer is called the trigger transformer
since it “triggers” the avalanche process by forcing a
few ions to be produced momentarily in the tube.
This process is shown in Figure 7.
-4-
Figure 3
Radiated Energy
Gas Molecule
Positive Ion
Negative Charge on Plate
Figure 4
20 Inches
Weight = 2 lbs.
Force of 20 lbs.
2 Inches
2 In. x 20 lbs. = 20 in. x 2 lbs.
Short Side Long Side
Figure 5
Transformer
300 Volts DC
Diode & Capacitor Converts AC to DC
DC to AC
Converter
(Oscillator)
3V Battery
3V x .3A = 300V x .003A
Figure 6
Length
Weight
C
L
Electronic
Tuned Circuit
in Oscillator
C = Capacitance
L = Inductance
Figure 7
Positive Ion
Tube Filled
with Xenon
Wire with High
Voltage Spike
Electron Freed by
High Voltage Spike
