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Trioxin
Apprentece
10 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 19 2007 : 04:47:05 AM
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| i was just wondering..since i know aaron and im sure a few other of you have either made/ or have a vast interest in making a tesla coil... everything ive seen heard basically is a warning not to do it...and all the vids ive seen just looks like some fancy lightening... why is it such an interest for so many people to make these if there so dangerous?...and what can happen if something goes wrong?.... judging from the youtube videos i'd think it'd burn out someones eyeballs, lol... but from a previous post someone on the forum aaron was saying its perfectly safe (within context) . . . is there anything special people use it for?..why is it so popular? |
"Launch the Polaris, the End doesn't scare us- When will this cease? The warheads will all Rust in Peace. |
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cirvin
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1542 Posts |
Posted - Jul 19 2007 : 10:36:37 AM
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It's popular because it makes fancy lightening!
For me it would be the allure of a ridiculously powerful machine just flaunting its power in a grand display of light and sound, just raw power erupting forth from the toroid, warning all to keep away, lest they be destroyed by its awesome might!
The operating principles are also interesting, it is essentially a tuned transformer, the high voltages are generated by playing the secondary coil somewhat like a tuning fork. The primary circuit oscillates at the same frequency that the secondary is resonant at and thus it gives it immense voltage gains. It's just interesting and relatively easy to build, all things considered.
Many things can go wrong, you can have a breakdown of the secondary, were an arc goes to your secondary coil, destroying the coil in a most unceremonious way, nothing spectacular really. Something could go wrong in the primary circuit, then you might get some bright sparks and arcing.
Worst thing that could happen is someone standing too close to it and get arc'd to while it's operating. With the power involved you will probably get internal RF burns and a damn significant shock, but only if you're grounded. Keep in mind that rubber shoes won't do anything to help you at 250kv. Oh, and don't touch the primary either, it's usually running at 5 to 10 kv.
They've used these machines for special effects in movies and electrical demonstrations (think terminator time travel scenes). Derivatives of this machine are found all around, inside your computer monitor and television in the form of the flyback transformer.
Mostly it comes down to ease of building and it looks really cool. |
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Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
Posted - Jul 21 2007 : 10:39:54 AM
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I personally don't worry about the output of the coil. For me, the danger is the 60Hz primary. 10KV+ at 60Hz to ground is more then a little dangerous.
As for why, why not? If you are good at scrounging up parts, the Tesla Coil is cheap and easy to build with a spectacular result. |
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pearltorto
Apprentice
United Kingdom
99 Posts |
Posted - Jul 21 2007 : 1:00:41 PM
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| Greg leyh an electrical engineer is planning the biggest most dramatic lightning project by using tesla coils 37m. Not only are tesla coils spectacular but they are also used for the research into how lightning is generated. You'd be surprised that lightning is still quite a mystery and there is belief that electrical resonance is behind the awesome power of lightning, not the sudden release from thunderclouds. One of the mysteries of lightning is how it can arc when the voltage is so low. With a particle accelerator in one of the towers, it could generate lightning bolts from tesla coils 5km high. Now how is that now bleedin cool? Not only that but the great Tesla himself would be proud |
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the Tesla Coil low down
