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My grandfather, whose background was in economics, became very interested in science later in life and built a fully functional Tesla Coil [1] in his basement i
by jazzychad 17y ago
My grandfather, whose background was in economics, became very interested in science later in life and built a fully functional Tesla Coil [1] in his basement in his 60's (this was before wide-spread availability of information on the internet; he did research in libraries and universities and built it out of hardware store parts). I was about 7 at the time.
We would do experiments with it such as lighting up free-standing fluorescent bulbs up to 15 feet away, or affixing an ion motor attachment which would reach incredible speeds.
I am now 25, and like my grandfather, I never want to stop learning.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_coil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_coil
- cmallen 17y agoPlease breed. A lot.
- mixmax 17y agoAn good friend of mine toys around with tesla coils quite a bit. Here's his tesla coil page: http://dzl.dk/projects/tesla/tesla.html http://dzl.dk/projects/tesla/tesla.html A few years ago he got involved in a pretty crazy project: Another friend (artist type) had heard that as long as you didn't touch the ground you could actually sit on top of a tesla coil and have huge sparks coming out of your fingers. He promptly went out and got some funding to make a 3 meter tall coil, and toured around Copenhagen sitting on top of it with lighting coming out of his outstretched hands. I'm somewhat surprised he survived, but it looked damn cool.
- jurjenh 17y agoThere's a man that went around music festivals here in new zealand for a couple of years - he'd put himself in a custom-made suit (faraday cage) and would then stand on a platform and hook himself up to a coupla thousand volts... Bloody impressive, except for the day he didn't do his suit up properly. He survived that one, but I haven't seen him perform in a while...
- DavidCh 17y agoNormally male teens learn about physics/engineering/mechanics by working on cars. Complicated stuff, and also a practical skill that girls like. I hope these odd ventures haven't turned you into a horrendous nerd, because if they did then you should be very angry at your grandfather.
- Quarrelsome 17y agoEh? Don't you know that nerds are cool? Teslas are also VERY cool. Any member of the opposite gender that does not share these views is _not_ cool.