The dielectric strength of air is about 80 thousand volts per inch. So it takes about half a million volts to generate a six inch arc. That's well within the capabilities of a large Van De Graff static electricity generator; you can buy a $100 Van De Graff that will put out 200 kV. So I find it plausible that a car in a dust storm could get charged up to 500 kV or more.
Now, I didn't see your earlier post, but here's the deal with ignition coils. Contrary to popular belief, an ignition coil is not a "step-up" transformer. It is an energy storage device, and it will generate whatever voltage is required to jump the spark gap, up to a point. That's why you can hold a spark plug lead an inch away from the plug and draw an arc, even though the normal coil output voltage is much less than the 80 kV required to jump one inch.
Now, the reason you can get a fouled plug to fire by holding the plug lead away from it is that this prevents the coil's current from being shorted out by the fouling until the coil voltage rises to a point where it will easily jump the plug gap. (I think it was John T who explained this to me, or maybe B&D, I don't remember.) You don't need a high-voltage coil to do this trick, as any coil can generate enough voltage to jump a half-inch or so.
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Today's Featured Article - Hydraulics - Cylinder Anatomy - by Curtis von Fange. Let’s make one more addition to our series on hydraulics. I’ve noticed a few questions in the comment section that could pertain to hydraulic cylinders so I thought we could take a short look at this real workhorse of the circuit. Cylinders are the reason for the hydraulic circuit. They take the fluid power delivered from the pump and magically change it into mechanical power. There are many types of cylinders that one might run across on a farm scenario. Each one could take a chapter in
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