Hello, newbie member here. I've tried "googling" this question, but have had little success in finding real information, and too much success with tin-foil-hattery.

I do not understand the basis behind a tensor coil enough to understand how to hook it up to a magnetron. So here are a couple questions i have:

1) Will a tensor coil function as an wave guide? i have only ever done basic electronics classes, and have never dealt with anything that does not have a positive and negative lead. Basically, will i achieve the "cancellation effect, no heat, etc" from the coil hooked up to a magnetron?

2) In a tensor coil (i prefer that term over caduceus, sounds too tin-foily ), on the overlapping portions, should the wire be touching, or separated by like a rubber coating?

3) My magnetron only has one lead or whatever it is called for the wave-guide. Do i connect both ends of the coil to it, or only one, and leave the other un-grounded? Or do i run a wire from it to another location to ground it?

4) I do not fully understand the difference, or connection between "electricity" and "rf energy", are they the same thing? I'm sorry this must sound uber stupid to you guys, but i haven't been taught these basic concepts yet at school.

The rf energy produced in my magnetron, it will created a magnetic field around the coils?

5) What is so special about the wave pattern supposedly (unproven?) created by the tensor coil? I read roughly about them , and they seem fascinating, just my teacher didn't know what the heck i was talking about when i asked him. And so i must turn to the internet for answers .


Just want to thank you for your patience, this type of stuff just really isn't my talent , ummm... but if you need help building an semi auto mg42 i'm your man .
Going into this odd stuff for post secondary, thought i might get a head start!

28 views, no one can tell me how to hook up the wave guide properly?

I didn't mean to over complicate it or confuse anybody, i just want to know if i solder the two ends of the tensor coil together and attach it to the existing wave guide rod, or if i only attach one one end of my coil to the waveguide, and lead the other end off to a ground (if that makes sense?). Or are one of the end of the coil not attached anywhere sort of dangling, does it make a difference?

I have set up a simple rough diagram of what i am asking. I'm guessing as the loops in the coil cause the wires to touch anyways that option #1 and #2 don't make a difference, but i'm not sure about #3, if that makes a difference or not.

Also, where each "spiral" intersects (the crisscrosses), are the wires supposed to touch?
ht tp://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w125/kerpall1/magnetron.jpg

Hi Michael,
I 've worked with RF devices and circuits for many years, but I don't know what a 'tensor coil' is, so I'll just answer some of your more general questions.
First, you can have either an AC or DC electric circuit. DC is a constant potential or voltage and current (like a battery). AC is a changing potential (like a sine wave). Your house has AC coming out of the walls at 110V (U.S.) or 220V (Europe) at 60Hz (cycles per second) and 120 Hz, respectively. The only real difference between AC and RF is the frequency (simply stated). RF is a higher frequency used as a signal carrier rather than a supply. A simple conductor can be used to move both an AC supply and an RF signal, but as you get higher in frequency, you have to worry about 'parasitic' components of the wire that will attenuate the signal. That's why higher frequency RF will travel better through a waveguide or even through the air (like a TV or Radio signal). The 'parasitics' that I mentioned are due to the inductive and capacitive components of a conductor. A coil (inductor) and a capacitor have a resistances that change with frequency called 'reactance'. In a coil the reactance is (2(pi) x freq. x inductance) and in a capacitor it is (1 / 2(pi) freq. x capacitance). What this means is that a capacitor has a lower resistance to RF at higher freqs and an inductor (coil) has a higher resistance at higher freqs. To answer one of your questions, do not let the coils touch each other, this will, in effect, decrease the inductance, making it more like a straight wire. Also, as current goes through a coil, a magnetic field is induced which opposes the current flow through the coil.
Again, I don't know what you're really trying to accomplish, except maybe time travel, but realize first that a magnetron is extremely dangerous and by connecting a coil to the output you are essentially short circuiting the output. Granted the coil will act as a load at higher frequencies (like a magnetron produces),but, without understanding alot about the relationship between the frequency, the magnitude and the impedance you are putting yourself in a very compromising position.
Please do not try putting these things together without consulting someone very familiar with magnetrons and electronics.
Peace,
Ron

Er.. magnetron? Generally use high voltages and produce lots of microwave energy .. good for cooking sausages, brains, people .. possibly inducing cancer .. DON'T GO NEAR THEM unless you know what you are doing (once you know what you're doing you'll know enough to avoid them anyway). NOT TOYS - DO NOT PLAY WITH THEM - AVOID AVOID AVOID.
-C2.

MAGNETRON?? A tough thing.I think that everyone should be careful while Hooking up a coil to Magnetron.Cause,VOLTAGE phobia..

Yeah, high voltage, no issue . I'll be testing it remotely enclosed in an aluminum structure to avoid any radiation leak. I've got the safety aspect covered, i just wanted to know the sciences behind it.

Ron, you've answered quite a bit of what i needed, thankyou. Do this without consulting an expert, nah, i'd probably hurt myself or simply fail . I just wanted to know some of the basics behind rf energy.

A build i am conducting under the supervision of my electronics instructor, and experiment i am consulting information with my physics instructor.

My goal was to produce those theoretical "undetectable" waves, and if they are indeed longitudinal EM waves or something like that, then i think i have found a method of determining their existence. 90% chance it'll fail probably, but i wanted to give it a try nonetheless.

Thank you again for the information, but i have seen pictures of these "coils", and the look as if the overlapping portions are touching. Which, for reasons you already stated, seemed confusing to me which is why i thought i'd ask. I need this advice from somebody who has already built one of the "caduceus coils", anyone out there?

"Longitudinal EM" are famous crank physics. Not only are they unknown to experimental physics, their only justification is a misunderstanding of quantum electrodynamics' gauge/physicality condition.

Being as such, I have no specific recommendations for one tensor or caduceus coil over another as there are no quantitative criteria to separate one type of wrongness from another.

what is the "theoretical" wave supposedly produced? Just humor me and put your tinfoil hat on just for a moment.