
The Tesla Gun - lelf
http://hackerfriendly.com/the-tesla-gun/
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sneak
More {people, projects, end results, writeups, photo galleries} like this,
please.

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

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Dove
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_.

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

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fghh45sdfhr3
Eh... that kind of crossed the line into creepy for me.

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corysama
Could use a bit more laser.

[http://www.appliedenergetics.com/downloads/product-
offerings...](http://www.appliedenergetics.com/downloads/product-
offerings/laser-guided-energy.pdf)

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

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

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

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jholman
I do not think that means what you think it means. Although maybe.

Perhaps you meant "allegedly" or "apocryphally"?

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JoeAltmaier
Contemporaneous anecdotes from visitors to his lab reported a beautiful pure
red spot of light, redder than any possible in nature, coming from a machine.
Since it happened in the past, does that make it alleged? I don't think
apocryphal works - its not an urban legend, its from documented letters etc.

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thaumaturgy
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.

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dbbolton
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>

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dexter313
What would happen if the arcs hit exposed skin of a human?

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hwillis
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.

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irrelative
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).

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marvin
In reference to your description of the danger of different voltages and
frequencies...is it still dangerous (potentially life-threatening) to get
shocked outside of these ranges, or do things work out well in the vast
majority of the cases? This is new to me, I got a bit curious.

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Retric
It's not really a question of safe vs unsafe so much as increased danger in
that range. Stand in the wrong place at a GW power-plant and you might just
end up as a ionized cloud in short order. But, even without massive tissue
damage things can still be incredibly dangerous.

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msds
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...

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josephcooney
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%...](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_5?url=search-
alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=nikola+tesla&sprefix=nikol%2Caps%2C418)

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).

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rangibaby
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>

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pohungc
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 :(

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

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inportb
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?

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adrianwaj
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."

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nerdo
Should've made it a Tesla Hammer.

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

