Saturday 21 February 2015

I'm still buzzing...

Not only have I been somewhat busy with the tour and knighthood but I've been honing my mad scientist skills for my pupils at Carluke High School.

Over the last few months I've been building a Tesla Coil from kit from a company called OneTesla in the US.

I haven't soldered for years and this may have been why the original board failed to spark into life as it should have done... So after a wait for the board to clear customs and yet more ridiculous customs charges the new kit finally arrived. It certainly kept me occupied whilst I was in recovery mode from the knighthood attempt the day before...






Main control board

The finished article...

So, what an earth does this contraption do then? Check this out...      :-)



Beat it - Michael Jackson


Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites


Mortal Kombat theme tune

The Tesla coil changes the voltage to around 250,000V which creates a plasma at the discharge tip - this super heated gas rapidly expands away creating a pressure wave which we hear as sound. By modulating the input current we can tune the output - essentially creating lightning that plays a tune. How awesome is that?!!

Update: got new software tonight which has made a big difference - the coil is no longer missing notes and is really living up to its potential (pardoning the physics pun)...

Check out ACDC's Thunderstruck - can't think of a more apt tune to demo!



1 comment:

Unknown said...

Through-hole HCT logic - you know how to treat us! ;-D

Paul

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