Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ecsvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!hes From: hes@ecsvax.UUCP (Henry Schaffer) Newsgroups: net.physics Subject: Tesla Message-ID: <309@ecsvax.UUCP> Date: Fri, 23-Aug-85 15:13:15 EDT Article-I.D.: ecsvax.309 Posted: Fri Aug 23 15:13:15 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 25-Aug-85 13:59:22 EDT Distribution: net Organization: NC State Univ. Lines: 27 <> The Denver Museum of Natural History has a demonstration/show several times a day called "ZAP" which has a Tesla coil as its main ingredient. It is fed by 15,000 VAC (at 1 amp) and can produce sparks of 2 million volts which jump over 5 feet, produce nice loud noises and a strong smell of ozone. There is a series of demonstrations, including handing out floursecent tubes to the audience, which holds them vertically while the coils sends out sparks (lightning bolts!), and the tubes glow. I was clearly involved in the current flowing through the tube (as a result of the EM field) because when I moved my hand further up the tube only the portion above my hand glowed strongly, below my hand it was relatively dark. (They warn people with pacemakers, etc. against attending.) One exciting demo was having a volunteer get inside an on-stage cage made of hardware cloth (about 1/2" squares) and shooting 2 million volt sparks at it, proving the effectiveness of the Faraday cage. I was there, in the cage, and it did work! The flourescent tube I held stayed dark, and I felt no electrical sensations at all - just light, noise and ozone. The show is supposed to continue through September. They pointed out that Tesla had a lab in Colorado Springs for a couple of years, and also mentioned that the museum bookshop had several books on Tesla. I bought "My Inventions", the autobiography of Nikola Tesla (published by Hart Brothers in 1982), and it is quite readable, but doesn't give much technical explanation. --henry schaffer n c state univ