[dramatic music] On this episode of "The Snake Pit"!
[soft hissing]
This illuminating engineer is hoping to spark
the imaginations of the judges with another
exciting, electrical invention.
[click]
What the devil?!
Who turned off the lights?!
[electrical buzzing]
[guitar riff, laughter]
[clapping]
Oh, thank you! Thank you.
My name is Nikola Tesla
and I'm here to ask for one million American dollars
for my latest invention.
I call it--
The Tesla Coil!
A million dollars?!
This better do some amazing things.
Before we discuss what it does,
don't you want to know how it works?
Not really.
The Tesla Coil consists of a primary
and secondary coil, each with its own capacitor.
The coils and capacitors are connected
by a gap of air between two electrodes
that generates a spark of electricity!
It requires a high-voltage power source
hooked up to the primary coil--
--Okay! Okay! Enough with the science lesson.
Just tell us what it's used for!
Well, you see.. the electric current
builds up in the capacitor until it reaches a tipping point.
The current flows through the spark gap,
into the secondary coil--
So you're shooting electricity between coils,
but what does it actually do?
I'll get to that!
I'll tell you all about what it does, you'll see!
Now,
the energy goes back and forth between the two coils,
causing electrical resonance.
And does this electrical resonance have some
kind of special property?
Well, not quite, not quite!
But, you see,
the energy goes back and forth between the coils
and the secondary capacitor concentrates
the current, and will eventually
shoot out bolts of electricity!!
So.. it shoots out lightning bolts.
That's it?
No.
Well, yes and no, really--
the coils operate at a very high power level
but they can transform this power
up to several million volts!
So you built a very big transformer,
is that it then?
[laughter]
Well- well, you know..
in a- in a way..
Maybe you'd benefit from another demonstration?
[protests] We don't need another demonstration--That's not necessary--
[electrical buzzing, guitar riff]
See?
Pretty good, eh?
It doesn't actually do anything, does it?
Uh- well-
sure it does!
It is used to- eh-
produce a high electric field
which causes the air to ionize and conduct electricity!
Shoot lightning bolts.
Just say it's used to shoot lightning bolts.
That is just one of the many, many things
that the Tesla Coil can do.
It also creates an oscillating
frequency up to 20,000 Hertz!
Oh, so it makes noise too?
Is that what you're saying?
It shoots lightning bolts and makes noise?
It produces high voltage, low current,
high frequency--
That's it! I've had enough!
I'm out.
Uhh.. I'm out too!
Tommy, wait up!
-wasting my time with his useless inventions!
Did I miss something?
What did you say this contraption does, again?
Um.
Well, it..
you know..
that is to say..
Yahh!!
[guitar riff, electrical buzzing]
[dramatic music]