TeslaCoil
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Tesla coil zaps nanotubes into a self-assembling circuit
Carbon nanotubes have gotten fanfare for rebooting Moore's Law and possibly powering the next generation of space probes, but that's not all the versatile material can do. How about shocking nanotubes with an electricity gun until they line up into neat little rows? Scientists at Rice University are firing a force field from a tesla coil at piles of carbon nanotubes until they self-assemble in a process called "Teslaphoresis". The force field oscillates positive and negative charges in each nanotube until they line up. These chains of nanotubes can form a structure and even carry a current. They light up LEDs, which are wirelessly powered by energy absorbed from the tesla coil's force field. "Normally when you talk about building circuits, you have to have physical contact. Now they're talking about building circuits without actually touching them," says Rice University scientist Carter Kattrell in a video. Pointing your lightning beam at carbon nanotubes to do your bidding is cool, but rearranging them has possibilities beyond just lighting up your Christmas tree. Depending on how they're configured, they can make a material that is stronger and lighter than kevlar or make the blackest fabric known to man. Self-assembly via electric fields isn't new, but it's only been done at extremely short ranges. The Rice scientists saw Teslaphoresis line up nanotubes from several feet away, and believe the process could chain them from the bottom-up into macro structures.
David Lumb04.15.2016
Build your own 80,000 volt Thor hammer, what could possibly go wrong?
When someone says "The idea is extremely simple, a tiny tesla coil inside a fake hammer" we look up "simple in the dictionary just to check. This is Hack a day though, where simple can mean almost anything -- in this case a genuine electrified Mjölnir replica. All you need to make your own is the aforementioned tesla coil (you have one right?), some foam, a battery pack and, well... the ability to follow instructions. Fittingly, the first attempt at Thor's hammer went on a saga of its own, suffering damage at the hands of the delivery service en route to a studio. No bother for our resident hacksters though, who patched it back up in no time to the fully functioning -- if a little over-sized -- model you'll see in the video past the break.
James Trew05.03.2013
Maker Faire Bay Area 2012, in pictures: 3D printers, unicorns, tesla coils and zombies (video)
Did you miss Maker Faire Bay Area 2012? Did you go but want to relive the experience a little? Well look no further: we came, we saw, we conquered. As one of our friends acutely observed, you couldn't throw something this year without hitting a 3D printer. Below you'll find pictures of said 3D printers, but also unicorns, Tesla coils and yes, even zombies (!) -- all lovingly curated from the hundreds of shots we took at the event this past weekend. Craving something with a bit more meat? We've made a convenient list of our Maker Faire posts. Once you're done digesting that, hit the break for our lovely video montage. Hands-on with the Electric Imp at Maker Faire (video) Raspberry Pi hands-on and Eben Upton interview at Maker Faire (video) Hands-on with the MakerBot robot petting zoo at Maker Faire (video) The Engadget Interview: Ben Heck talks Raspberry Pi at Maker Faire (video) Electric Motor Werks hands-on at Maker Faire (video) %Gallery-155867%
Myriam Joire05.22.2012
Tesla coil gun exists, may shoot lightning
Inspired by the graphic novel "Five Fists of Science" -- and perhaps encouraged by the plucky MIT student who made his own Tesla coil hat and survived -- a DIYer named Rob designed a Tesla coil gun, which he says is fully functional. Rob used a Nerf gun cast in aluminum for the housing and created a high voltage switch with a 3D powder printer. The gun is powered by an 18V ion drill battery and a flyback transformer housed inside a PVC plumbing end cap. Though Rob has yet to fire the gun, photos show what he says are sparks from the setup, and a demo clip is on the way. While video proof is always nice, so is preserving your life. We wish Rob the best with both.
Sarah Silbert05.12.2012
ioSafe gives shocking demo of Thunderbolt Rugged Portable prototype (video)
Every year ioSafe has some absurd demo to show off just how tough its rugged hard drives are. They've already played with fire and peppered a portable model with buckshot. This year the company turned to an eight-foot tall Tesla coil and pointed its bolts of current at a prototype Thunderbolt model of its Rugged Portable -- which the company hopes to ship sometime in Q2. Unlike previous versions, this one packs dual SSDs in a RAID array for redundancy. After being blasted repeatedly with a million volts of electricity the drive still worked. Things got a bit hairy when the drive wasn't recognized at first, but CEO Robb Moore broke out the screwdrivers, cracked open the case and connected the SSD directly through a separate adapter. Turns out just the mainboard was fried, but the storage was still safe. A second Rugged Portable, one of last-year's models brought in by a member of the press, was also put to the voltage test and came through unscathed. Check out the video after the break. Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.
Terrence O'Brien01.11.2012
MIT student creates tesla coil musical hat for Halloween, survives
Some of us express our über-geeky tendencies by building Tron lightcycle case mods, or playing with Arduino. While others tend to err on the side of... insanity. MIT student Tyler Christensen would probably fall into that latter category, most recently strapping a tesla coil (and associated capacitors) to his head. The result is seriously impressive, and no animals (or humans) were harmed in the making of his costume -- though the DRSSTC (Dual Resonant Solid State Tesla Coil) didn't fare so well, considering that it "blew up" the day before the holiday weekend. Christensen still had a chance to test the contraption on camera before the incident, however, walking around town while zapping the sky to the tune of the Harry Potter theme song -- a seemingly appropriate selection. Check it out in the video after the break.
Zach Honig11.15.2011
Kinect hacked to control Tesla coils from a safe distance (video)
Just how does one come up with the bright idea to control Tesla coils with a Microsoft Kinect? In a pub, of course.
Donald Melanson03.14.2011
D.I.Y. wireless power project unleashes your inner mad scientist
Before he was the patron saint of electric cars and GPUs, Nikola Tesla invented the AC motor, the Tesla coil (or, as he called it, the "coil"), and demonstrated that power could be transferred wirelessly. A hundred-plus years later, companies like Solaren Corp are angling to beam electricity down to earth from outer space -- quite possibly solving our energy crisis with science fiction means that would even make ol' Nicky T. look twice. But why should the big companies have all the fun? You too can experiment with wireless power, albeit on a significantly smaller scale, with merely a square wave generator, some coiled wire, a 60 watt bulb, and a few other low priced thingamabobs. Don't believe us? Hit that read link and see for yourself.[Via Make]
Joseph L. Flatley05.12.2009
Tesla coils seen wowing onlookers, cooking hot dogs
Believe it or not, tesla coils are good for more than just creating lighting, protecting one's laptop or cranking out a sweet tune -- and the folks watching a dazzling demonstration at Maker Faire 2008 can attest to that. Apparently a group of prototype (1 / 12 scale, no less) coils were seen sparking up the evening in San Mateo, California, but it wasn't the visual energy or unmistakable hum that caused all that saliva to form in the mouths of onlookers. Oh no, it was the fact that a dozen hot dogs were simultaneously roasted and made ready for safe consumption. Check out a video of the action right after the break.
Darren Murph05.07.2008
Video: Tesla guitar amp sparks the Great Radio Controversy
If you haven't already, Tesla Guitar is a must see video. It features a lethal Scopeboy modification of a Tesla coil for guitar amplification. Click on through for 250,000 volts of axe slinging distortion. Huzzah!
Thomas Ricker02.12.2008
Tesla coil produces electric Mario music
The era of fan-played game music has just ended, thanks to this video. Can your nerdcore, forget your a cappella renditions of classic video game themes, and cancel your tour, because these people have just won. It's over. We're banning all video game music reproductions starting ... now.Why? Because the Tesla coil in the video after the jump is rocking out with Super Mario Bros. and Tetris themes, and it's just about the coolest (sparkinest?) thing we've ever seen.
Alisha Karabinus06.21.2007
Musical Tesla coil plays Super Mario Brothers theme
After the robotic giraffe, a Mac running XP and this guy's second Zune tattoo, you probably thought there was nothing left to see, but then along comes a giant Tesla coil that creates a "resonant frequency" and plays the SMB music to a crowd of onlookers. No word on if it knows "Signs" or not. Check the video after the break.[Via Make]
Joshua Topolsky06.21.2007