Thursday Thirteen v.7
Thirteen Things That Scare Me a Little The Christmas decorations are up at the local mall, but never mind that. Tuesday is Hallowe'en. 1. Any letter from my Condo Association. It makes my heart skip a beat. Usually it's something really stupid that I'm not doing. Tell the people who are doing it and leave me alone. 2. Spam e-mail with T.M.I. I recently got a Spam message that contained my first and last name, from a Landon Nicholson (no relation) telling me that "Your history shows that your Viagra prescription is ready to be re-filled." Uh-huh. My personal history shows that I need Viagra like I need a hair dryer and a comb. 3. When the Boss says, "You got a minute?" He never calls me in to chit-chat. 4. Dying alone. I don't need to elaborate on that, except to say that if I needed Viagra, I wouldn't be worried about it. 5. George W. Bush with his hand on the Bible. I keep waiting for it to burst into flames . 6. My spin instructo...
Comments
This is the same phenomenon as Jacob's Ladder. Once the arc is formed (i.e., the air is ionized), it is easier for the electricity to follow the existing arc than it is to form a new one through unionized air. However, the ionized air is hot and expands so that it is less dense than the surrounding air. That makes it float up, just like flames from a fire.
So the arc moves up and gets longer until it requires more voltage to maintain than is available. It breaks. Then if enough voltage is available, a new arc forms. In this case, the bar has moved so far (on purpose) so that a new arc cannot form and the circuit is broken.
A smaller example is the Jacob's ladder that you could see in the old 1930s Frankenstein movies. You can sometimes buy small ones at novelty shops. This is much bigger, and much cooler.