Whatever the Testatika might be (and I have my own ideas about that), it is _not_ an electrostatic influence machine.
There are many features of the device that would actually prevent any buildup of electrostatic potential that is necessary for a true influence machine to operate. The superficial resemblance to a Wimshurst machine is a Red Herring of the fishiest kind. I write this as someone with considerable experience with electrostatic machines of various types, as well as having a long history of researching the available Testatika information. I've even spoken with someone who visited Methernitha while Baumann was still living, who witnessed a demonstration and even held the smallest Testatika in his hands.
I sincerely doubt that the Testatika operates by any use of electrostatics, high voltage, ES induction or "influence".
Just my two cents worth, take it or leave it.
I respect your perspective on this issue,. and can see where from these conclusions could be drawn.
(see below)
I too have spoken with people sent to Methernitha to investigate this technology, before Paul passed away.
(from what I understand, those now in control of the village are not currently permitting such visits)
I never received confirmation from my correspondents, as to whether or not these devices powered the village.
What we were able to determine, is that there are no (visible) power lines leading to the village, no attachments to the dwellings, outside of the network created by the multitude of testatikas placed around the village.
The local electric utility, located in a large city down one side of the mountain (some number of kilometers, that I had determined to equal a couple of miles away), claimed that they did not have any power lines servicing that community. They did not have any knowledge as to why their "lights were on".
So,. what is this device? assuming it really does power their needs (which is, at least to me, still speculative)
How does it function? Where does the energy come from?
At first glance, it looks like a whimshurst machine, with some funny collector screens on it, and a weired looking magnetic inductor coil (choke?)
the output is usable (non'static') electricity.
Now, we can convert static electricity to a lower voltage, but it is not "tame" like the electricity we use in our homes.
the inverse, we can take electricity from our wall plug and boost it up to a very high voltage,
but it does not act the same as an induced 'static' charge.
The latter is more wild, uncontrolled.
Where-as, a stepped up wall voltage will behave consistently, in direct accordance to the impedance of air.
Our modern ICE vehicles rely on this for timing and spark gap.
Using a static machine (influence or friction) would result in inconsistent sparks and the engine would not run properly.
Why is that?
I will explain this, in my own words, from what I understand to be the true nature of our experience.
Some may not agree with my interpretation. Others may find it to be enlightening.
But in either case, I will attempt to share what is in my mind, in a way that it can merge to what is in your own mind.
For the sake of discussion, I state that:
the processes involved in frictional static-induction are
far too complex to put into realistic terms within the context of this discussion.
So, henceforth, my statements will apply strictly to machines of the influence type.
If this machine is anything that it appears to be, it is definitely of the influence type, not the frictional.
(this is affirmed by Paul, on many occasion)
When one considers the operation of an influence machine, there are two polarities, of equal potential.
[even in machines in which the potentials are asymmetrical, the charges are balanced in an understood manner]
Induction, as a function of the ionization of air, when charges are separated.
In theory, charges, when assumed balanced, are complimented when separated.
That is to say, whatever negative (-) charge you separate from the environment,
is matched by an equivalently available positive (+) charge,
as a direct result of the separation process.
This does not take into consideration a previously existing charge potential in the environment, but mathematically,
this can be accounted for, similar to an "ambient voltage bias" theory. In which, the ambient voltage potential,
(referenced to a theoretical zero v) leads to a higher quantity of either + or - charges available from the surroundings.
This, while does play with your numbers a bit, is irrelevant. You can bias your "0 line" to adjust to changes in the environment
and examine the machine on a base level.
So, let us assume, henceforth, that the air around us is perfectly "balanced", with + and - charges, that equal 0 net charge.
[it is in fact NOT, but we will assume that it is, to lessen the confusion]
Let us look at such a balanced influence machine, as the rotating cylindrical electrophorus, or the contra-rotating disks of the whimshurst machine.
Where-as we have a positive charge, induced by a nagative charge, and visa versa, in accordance with the motion of the charges,
and the inductance with respect to the surface area of the conductor.
Regardless of the "energy" value of the separated charges, the "input" of such machines is strictly a matter of the imparting motion to the mass of the conductor.
Mass is not equivalent to surface area on any terms, and as such, one can see mathematically, how these two energy values,
input and output, are not equal.
Such factors as moment of inertia, and friction on a bearing shaft,
do not equate to surface area and charge induction.
One can state that the latter is greater of the two, in most instances.
But what relevance has this to thermodynamic theory?
That's neither here nor there, because, as theory would indicate, the charges are balanced.
To get one, you must have first separated the other.
This is the operation of an influence machine.
You will not get more "current" or "capacitantly charged voltages", or however you want to look at it,..
Than is predicted by theory of separation of charges.
Move the charge, and it will induce charge in the other conductor.
Look at the water machine. (Kelvin?) move a drop of water with a + charge drop and it induces a - charge in another drop,
which makes the next drop + before it can make the next drop - and so on..
Imagine this happening millions of times per second, and this is what an influence machine does.
At least in the standard approach.
There is another type of influence machine, only a few inventors have used this, for reasons only known to them.
Everyone else seemed to have done it in the normal manner.
What am I talking about? hmm.. lets see...
how do I say this...
There was first a device, like the cylindrical electrophorus, in that a horizontal cylinder rotated.
This was only a physical resemblance, much like Pauls device is to a Whimshurst Machine.
In reality, There was not merely a separation of charges.
There was a charge.
And there were Non-charged conductors moving in the charge's field.
That is the best way I can describe the difference.
In one, you have two charges, moving against each other, inducing more of each other, in one another.
In the other type of induction, you have a single (static) charge, that induces a charge in a non-charged (neutral) conductor.
a modern day analysis of this type of induction, would be the charging of a capacitor, over rotational distance, rather time.
In this manner W.R. pidgeon was able to charge plates and discharge them several times per rotation.
by rotating them around the radius of a single, non-rotating disk.
Upon studying this, Pidgeon discovered, that if the rotating disk was a solid conductor, the charges would separate across the disk and collect in certain locations + and -, respectively.
It is understood by those that were sent to investigated the Testatika device, That this is the principals used in the "keys"
or "antennae collectors" placed in various locations around the rotating disk.
The locations are almost a direct representation of Pidgeons experiments in this area.
As mentioned near the beginning of this post, "static" electricity is not tame.
Magnetism affects electricity, in fact, when we induce electricity in a wire, it is already magnetically polarized.
This is why it does not behave like its' wild counterpart.
When a static discharge is passed near a magnetic field its' trajectory changes, as a function of the ionization of the medium.
When this medium is a metallic conductor, this factor becomes a constant, as a proportion of electrical conductivity.
Thus giving credence to the horshoe-magnet coils present in most of the machines. (not all had this, which was explained by Paul)
the voltage levels in the pidgeon experiments were a factor of a division of Pi, to the radius.
Where as, a 10-inch whimshurst achieves voltages around 10,000 Volts, as a function of the radius to the surface area,
This holds similar in the Pidgeon experiment. a total imbalance, vs area. + and -, opposing one another.
and two specific points of + and - of lower amplitude located 90-degrees to the first pair.
[notice how induction machines of the first type have a 90-degree neutralizing rod or wire]
it is not always a perfect 90-degrees, as some of you may have noticed in your home-version of the whimshurts or such device.
due to asymmetries, often unnoticed by our feeble human eyes , charges can be greater to one side than the other.
[this kind leads back to "our environment is not really zero"]
The charges can be detected within your own pidgeon machine, using a variety of charge detectors,
in comparison to some ground or "neutral" point, with respect to the charges in the machine.
[Note, this is completely arbitrary to any potential of choice, which in itself is thermodynamically unequivocal]
Once located, you can adapt a variety of "collectors" to take these charged points and convert them
into the capacitance of another conductor.
For instance, a leyden jar, or rolled aluminum foil capacitor, or even just a hunk of metal...
the collectors will charge, according to a function of their capacitance, and the induction of the opposing (initial) charge.
Over the radius of the surface of the disk, at a given RPM.
this could be related to a solid-state capacitor, which dumps its' charge as it charges, into a much larger capacitor.
But rather than being 10kV charges, we are talking about a fraction of the 1/2 of 10Kv / %surface area of a grid or screen type conductor.
This surface area is actually a bit larger than a flat metal plate of the same dimensions.
We don't need to do the math on that here, but if you doubt that in any way, take the time to ask someone about surface area.
a (window) screen about the size of a U.S. quarter can pick up around the 100-300V range, on a 10-inch disk, at 30RPM
with a capacitance in the microfarads (sorry I don't have the data anymore on this)
they can be arranged in sets, according to your method of imbalancing the charges.
Pidgeon experimented with divisions of two, or three.
my own experiments extended this to sets of four and six, however in every case, my disks were rotated by artificial means.
namely a motor and batteries, our power supply.
What was undetermined by investigators was the means of motive force in the Testatika machines.
How, or why they seemed to turn themselves as a function of charge induction, was never determined.
This minor detail, might change ones perspective when it comes to "input" vs "output"...
any such output, however small,. when one considers the fact that there were ( I think they said 213? at that time) devices
spread throughout the village in various sized, with a rather long list of adaptations and attachments.
I would think it would add up to something usable.. even if all they did was light some lamps and turn a few wheels.
At face value, what the team stated time and time again, when asked:
This technology appears to be exactly what Paul Baumann clearly states that it is.
Electrostatic induction.
I was never able to bridge the gap between the pidgeon machine and the testatika.
no amount of magnetic fields or wires passing through them, have I been able to "unstatic" the wild electricity.
even at low voltages, once the air ionizes, it will jump right out of the wire and into the next.
its not the same creature.
I have tried horseshoe magnets, and coils precisely to the proportions used in many of the devices, with no affect.
[noted there is a misc. inductor of unknown intention often placed just prior to the magnetic charge converters,
not understanding this may have affected the lack of results]
My conclusion of this device was that is it possible to obtain a low-voltage, high current, electricity from a pidgeon type machine.
In fact it is about twice that of which you could obtain, using a whimshurts and converting it down to a lower voltage.
And with half the friction because you are only spinning one disk.
How Paul converted this into a usable electricity was never understood, and how he spun the disk was either a hoax or a mystery.
It was concluded, at least on the surface, these things were indeed powering their village.