PHYSICS
PROJECT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I thank the plus two section physics department for
guiding us through the making of this project.
I also thank the principal of Hari Sri Vidya Nidhi School
For giving us an opportunity to create such a project.
I thank my teammates who helped bring this project to
life.
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. REQUIRED PARTS
3. APPARATUS
4. WORKING
5. CONCLUSION
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
A Tesla coil is a type of resonant transformer circuit
invented by Nikola Tesla around 1891. It is used to
produce high voltage, relatively high current, and high
frequency alternating current electricity. Tesla
experimented with a number of different configurations
and they consist of two, or sometimes three, coupled
resonant electric circuits. Tesla used these coils to
conduct innovative experiments in electrical lighting,
phosphorescence, x-ray generation, high frequency
alternating current phenomena, electrotherapy, and the
transmission of electrical energy without wires. The
early Tesla coil transformer design employs a medium-
to high-voltage power source, one or more high voltage
capacitor(s), and a spark gap to excite a multiple layer
primary inductor with periodic bursts of high frequency
current. The multiple-layer Tesla coil transformer
secondary is excited by resonant inductive coupling, the
primary and secondary circuits both being tuned so
they resonate at the same frequency (typically, between
25 kHz and 2 MHz). The later and higher-power coil
design has a single-layer primary and secondary. These
Tesla coils are often used by hobbyists and at venues
such as science museums to produce long sparks.
Although electronic circuit controllers have been
developed, Tesla's original spark gap design is less
expensive and has proven extremely reliable.
REQUIRED PARTS
To create a mini tesla coil, the following parts were
used;
1. 9 cm PVC Pipe
2. 28 AWG copper wire
3. 2N2222A transistor
4. 2.2K ohm resistor
5. 9V battery and connector
6. ON, OFF switch
7. A bulb
8. A ball rolled with foil paper
9. A white board
APPARATUS
A PVC pipe of 2 cm width and 9 cm length is taken. Two
holes are made on both the ends of the pipe. One end of
a copper wire is inserted in one of the holes and the
wire is turned over the pipe till the other end and is
taken out through the other hole. The above pipe is
fixed over a white board with hot glue. A 2NNNN2A
transistor is taken and is placed over the board. The tip
of the copper wire placed near the board is sanded
using sand paper. A 2.2K ohm resistor is taken and is
connected to the sanded end of the copper wire. The
connected end of the resistor is connected to the
transistor at the centre. A separate connecting wire is
winded 3-4 times around a pipe of same features as
mentioned above. The pipe is then placed over the
secondary pipe and is connected to the transistor with a
connecting wire. A switch is placed on the white board
and one of its ends is connected to another end of the
resistor. The other end of the wire is connected to
another wire which is tied with the connecting wire over
the pipe and is then connected to the switch. The other
end of the switch is connected to the battery. The other
terminal of the battery is connected to the transistor.
Now, the ball is covered with a sheet of foil and is
placed over the pipe with the winded copper wire.
WORKING
The Tesla coil works with the principle
of Electromagnetic Induction. According to which, when
a conductor is placed under a varying magnetic field, a
small current will be induced inside the conductor. For
a Tesla coil this conductor will be called as
the secondary coil and the varying magnetic field will be
produced by the primary coil by passing an oscillating
current through the primary coil. A high current high
frequency transistor like 2N2222 is used to supply
current through the primary coil. The whole set up is
powered by a 9V battery. The positive end of the battery
reaches the collector of Transistor through the primary
coil. This means that whenever the transistor conducts,
current is flown through the primary coil. One end of
the secondary coil is connected to base of transistor to
make the circuit oscillate, this way the transistor will
send an oscillating current into primary coil. So, with
this arrangement we have a primary coil which will have
an oscillating current, and hence will produce magnetic
flux around it. Now, this coil is wound around the
secondary coil and hence according to law of
electromagnetic induction a voltage will be induced in
the secondary coil. Since the number of turns in the
secondary coil is very large than primary coil, this
voltage will be a very high voltage and hence this coil
will have a very strong electric flux around it that is
powerful enough to glow normal CFL bulbs and is used
in Wireless Power Transmission. Although this circuit
works and behaves like a Tesla coil, it is far away from
an actual Tesla coil. The right name for this circuit
is slayer exciter tesla coil or Poor man’s Tesla coil.
When the switch is turned on and a CFL bulb is brought
into the field of the conducting wire winded over the
pipe, the CFL bulb glows on its own without any physical
connections due to the induced current produced in the
circuit.
CONCLUSION
Tesla coils are displayed as attractions at science
museums and electronics fairs, and are used to
demonstrate principles of high frequency electricity in
science classes in schools and colleges.
Since they are simple enough for an amateur to make,
Tesla coils are a popular student science fair project,
and are homemade by a large worldwide community of
hobbyists. Builders of Tesla coils as a hobby are called
"coilers". They attend "coiling" conventions where they
display their home-made Tesla coils and other high
voltage devices. Low-power Tesla coils are also
sometimes used as a high-voltage source for Kirlian
photography. Tesla coils can also be used to generate
sounds, including music, by modulating the system's
effective "break rate" (i.e., the rate and duration of high-
power RF bursts) via MIDI data and a control unit. The
actual MIDI data is interpreted by a microcontroller
which converts the MIDI data into a PWM output which
can be sent to the Tesla coil via a fibre optic interface.
An extensive outdoor musical concert has demonstrated
using Tesla coils during the Engineering Open House
(EOH) at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
In 2016, Rice University scientists used the field of a
Tesla coil to remotely align tiny carbon nanotubes into a
circuit, a process they dubbed "teslaphoresis".
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Google
• Wikipedia
• YouTube
