The Tesla Gun

http://hackerfriendly.com/the-tesla-gun/

by lelf • 14 years ago

221 29 14 years ago

ChuckMcM• 14 years ago

This looks like a lot of fun! Add a flying robot dead cat familiar (http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-06/video-dutch...) and you make a serious statement of nerditude.

fghh45sdfhr3• 14 years ago

Eh... that kind of crossed the line into creepy for me.

corysama• 14 years ago

Could use a bit more laser.

http://www.appliedenergetics.com/downloads/product-offerings...

I guess that might spoil the steampunk theme, though...

fraserharris• 14 years ago

Using a laser (ionization of air molecules?) to guide the tesla coil discharge is ingenious. Very neat.

JoeAltmaier2• 14 years ago

And anecdotally Tesla had devised a laser as well, so it remains contemporary!

bmuon• 14 years ago

I'm guessing an infrared laser would work as well and wouldn't ruin the theme.

webjprgm• 14 years ago

Do guys use Pintrest? Because this is the kind of thing I'd like to pin. :-)

sneak• 14 years ago

More {people, projects, end results, writeups, photo galleries} like this, please.

dexter313• 14 years ago

What would happen if the arcs hit exposed skin of a human?

hwillis2• 14 years ago

Hard to say. Maybe not much, due to the environment and the skin affect- high frequency electricity tends to flow near the surface of a material. This isn't a van der graff generator though, it can still produce a significant current, and is potentially (probably) lethal. It probably won't hurt, again due to the high frequency. The aftereffects would definitely hurt though.

irrelative• 14 years ago

I've built a Tesla coil (inspiring me to major in electrical engineering later on) and have been shocked by them on a couple occasions. Sadly, the skin affect doesn't apply to human skin -- it only applies to materials which are conductors at high frequencies. Due to the water content + the resistance inherent in the material, human flesh doesn't exhibit skin effect properties.

If this hits your skin, you probably won't feel it due to the high frequencies involved, similarly to how you won't hear sounds over ~20khz. Your body wont' be able to process it neurologically. You will, however, get a really nasty burn from it, which can get bad if you don't sense the initial shock. If it hits your torso, you could potentially experience heart rhythm issues, but unlikely.

Voltage and frequency dangers are funny things. The most dangerous voltages are from about 50V to 1000V because it interferes with your nervous system -- lower and the current is too low to affect you, and higher causes you to reflexively release. The most dangerous frequencies are ~1Hz to ~10kHz. They're most likely to mess with your cardio rhythms in a bad way. Funny thing about this is that the most dangerous voltages and currents are found in household voltages -- 120V@60Hz (220V@50Hz in Europe).

lutorm• 14 years ago

UC Santa Cruz does Tesla coil demos with a person dressed in a Faraday cage, and IIRC they said that (like someone else commented) the skin effect due to the high frequency means you probably won't die from it going through your heart, but the fact that the current is limited to a very small depth into your skin means the current density actually is quite high and will likely cause damage.

nerdo• 14 years ago

Should've made it a Tesla Hammer.

biot• 14 years ago

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5jBjso6l6I

thaumaturgy• 14 years ago

Aww, I was sort of hoping that somebody had figured out how to build Tesla's "teleforce" device (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleforce).

This was a neat build though.

Dove• 14 years ago

I think the most important lesson to take away from this is how very awesome you can be if you have a great idea and you reach out to others for help.

dbbolton• 14 years ago

Wolfenstein fans are especially excited about this post.

1 - http://wolfenstein.wikia.com/wiki/Tesla_gun_%28RtCW%29

2 - http://wolfenstein.wikia.com/wiki/Tesla_gun_%28WOLF_2009%29

msds• 14 years ago

I got to hold it last weekend! Surprisingly light - felt around 5 kg. Sadly it doesn't have a trigger in the slot you'd expect it to have one, just a (safely covered) switch.

Pretty cool to actually see it after months of noticing parts Rob left on tables at the local hackerspace...

adrianwaj2• 14 years ago

Anyone know about using Tesla coils to generate electricity inexpensively from Earth's magnetic field?

inportb• 14 years ago

I don't understand. Do you propose to use the Earth as a big field magnet and generate electricity by letting it move through a big conductive coil? So as the Earth orbits about the Sun, you could slow it down while enjoying free electricity... right?

adrianwaj2• 14 years ago

Yep, I was listening to this yesterday and it got me thinking. www.thewonders.com/multimedia/Ask_The_Wonders_May_19_2010.mov (2:16)

Q: "Can 0-point field energy be harnessed?"

A: "Have you ever heard of the Tesla coil? Use that more often, that's all it takes. Magnetic energy tapped into the planet's electromagnetic field produces more than sufficient energy to power the planet with approximately 258 trillion inhabitants on it. ..there is movements towards the technology but it is not yet truly being supported by governments. ..the financial, the technological aspects of it is alluding some of your scientists. ..we would suggest to them to simplify their mathematical equations rather than complexify them as they're trying to do."

josephcooney• 14 years ago

Slightly OT, but does anyone have a Tesla book recommendation (preferably on Kindle) http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_5?url=search-alias%...

I read a biography of him a while ago, but I can't recall which one, and it seemed too pulp-ey (which in a way was appropriate since so much of what he did seemed to spring from the pages of pulp sci-fi).

pohungc• 14 years ago

I saw a talk by this guy at the Seattle Makers Faire. Quite an interesting talk, though they didn't let him do a live firing demo :(

rangibaby• 14 years ago

Would this actually work to electrocute capitalist pigdogs? Or is it just a "regular" Tesla coil in a gun shape?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Red_Alert

The Tesla Gun

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