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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