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Working On Man Made Lightning

Posted by Soulskill on from the i'll-order-a-dozen dept.

New submitter PerlJedi writes "There is a very cool write up on the Make blog about an effort to build the world's largest tesla coils. Quoting: '"Somehow lightning can generate huge discharges with only about a fifth of the voltage per foot that lab discharges require," Leyh explains. "The part that especially fascinates me is that this mysterious ability kicks in around 200' in length, which is right at the edge of what we can produce with a practical machine." Leyh wants to see if humans can replicate this voltage economy effect, and has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the building of two 10-story Tesla Coil towers (obviously superseding his current coil-size world record).'"

4 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. I feel sorry for the house. by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    I feel sorry for that house in the middle. It looks like a nice one too. But to be placed under massive Tesla coils will greatly reduce resell property. Perhaps it is one of those older houses where the ghetto was built around it.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:I feel sorry for the house. by Scaba · · Score: 4, Funny

      I believe it's Dan Aykroyd's house in the 1981 film Neighbors (a film that could have been great but suffered too many rewrites).

  2. In soviet Russia... by TheBlackMan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In soviet Russia they actually have some of these already:

    darkroastedblend.com/2007/07/creepy-high-voltage-installations.html

  3. AC vs DC? by Artraze · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What confuses me is that there seems to be a disconnect regarding this project vs. lightning... Tesla coils operate on relatively high frequency AC whereas lightning is a very slow DC process. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say the lightning can get away with lower voltages because the charge buildup allows for partial ionization at charge concentration points (e.g. a lightning rod) which can create ion streams and render the atmosphere partially conductive thus reducing the required potential. That may not be quite right, but still I find it odd that one would try to replicate lightning using such a fundamentally different design; a marx generator seems far more appropriate. Does anyone know if they're planning on rectifying the output? I guess it's theoretically possible...

    Also, Tesla coils generate a _huge_ amount of broadband RF interference (not to mention sound). It seems to me that building this thing would be far less difficult than simply being allowed to build it (and for good reason!). Do they have a location picked out and have they talked to local government and the FCC?