We are at the University of Kansas where a group of students
built an eight-foot-tall Tesla coil capable of discharging massive electrical sparks inches from your face
In the 1890s inventor Nikola Tesla invented his Tesla coil, a machine designed to wirelessly transmit
electricity it completely revolutionized the way electricity was understood and used. Today a
Variation of Tesla's experiments is used primarily as a spectacular demonstration of lightning-like discharges bursting into the air.
What's she doing? Uh oh, She's going in!
Built into this Tesla coil is the potential to reach
1.2 million volts. So the question that everybody wants to know is what happens if you get hit by an arc?
If you were to be struck and the current flowed through your body missing your vital organs,
You would definitely have serious burms.
If it went through your heart you'd probably suffer cardiac arrest.
So in order to get video of the lightning striking inches from our face without risking cardiac arrest. We're stepping into a Faraday cage.
The continuous covering of conductive mesh conducts current around the
Outside of the enclosed space and none passes through the interior. You can even safely touch the thin mesh on the inside
In the same manner your car may act like a Faraday cage and protect you from a lightning strike. This car, not so much.
I wanna ride it more! ha ha ha
The loud sound to hear results directly from the passage of the spark through the air. The superheated air creates compression
Waves we perceive as sound just like miniature Thunder
by modulating the spark outfit
You can control the pitch of the sound and when you can control pitch you can make music
What music we gonna do here?
Um I have selections from...
"Freebird"
No!
"Sweet Child O' Mine" No!
Can we do Turkish Rondo? Mozart's Turkish Rondo? Do you have any classical music in there?
No!
Unfortunately it takes us a long time to make each one of these
I thought you could just pull up a song and it does it yeah
I have to compose it like in a certain way because you need to know your coil. You got to know your coil
Come on Angus come on Malcolm come on Brian.
(Tesla Coil plays "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC)
Being somewhat of a lightning fanatic
I really wanted to see and photograph the arcs striking the ground and the students agreed to move the cage and
Increase the power for the biggest bolts possible
WHOA! Lets try it again.
That was beautiful We're gonna see...
We're gonna try to get it to arc to the ground.
Here look this is the Lightning flashing... I think that's a great simulation. Yep, It looks just like it.
(Tesla Coil plays "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns and Roses)
And now for the grand finale...
We're going to leave you with a song that seemed to be composed especially
For a singing tesla coil. The KU student group "Hawkworks"
now proudly gives you Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption!"
Yeah!!!!!!!!
You