Talk:Tesla coil/Archive 1

message: What is the purpose of the Tesla coil?
:It doesn't need a purpose; it's designed to look awesome. Wunderbear 21:12, 21 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tesla Purpose 

message: * quote "It is advisable to begin the adjustments with low-power and low-frequency oscillations" This sentence does not make sense. I agree with the low-power part. But the purpose of the adjustments (tuning) is to adjust the resonant frequency of the primary circuit to match the one of the secondary. Therefore, you don't run your coil at a lower frequency to make adjustments, but you run it at low-power to make frequency adjustments. Would you agree? (I open the discussion, and I'll change the sentence if I don't get a negative feedback...) Glaurung 12:58, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Adjustments

message: Skin Effect Edit:
I did some significant rewording to correct a potentially dangerous misconception that Tesla Coil sparks are not painful because "skin effect" causes most of the current flow on the outside of the expeimenter's skin. This is a very popular misconception, but it can easily be proved as being false. The misconceptin could lead to injury or even death of careless or unwary experimenters. --Bert 17:07, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  skin effect 

message: I am beginning a rewrite as of 12/23/2004. Eric Urban 04:43, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I think you should write something about it on the article. Something like , but not sure if that's for full rewrites that take time  — Kieff | Talk 14:03, Dec 24, 2004 (UTC)
I suggest that all references to Nikola Tesla in the Tesla coil article refer to him by his full name to avoid confusion with the discussion of the Tesla coil itself. I am doing so in my rewrite.Eric Urban 03:17, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Rewrite

message: i'd love to see a waveform of the output of a coil.  I imagine it's a high frequency wave periodically decaying exponentially?  triggered each time it sparks? - Omegatron 16:37, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)
It's actually considerably more complex than that since the energy in the secondary builds over a number of cycles, and the output waveform is dependent on when the primary spark gap stops conducting ("quenches") and whether or not there are discharges that are also removing energy from the secondary. See the following sections of Richie Burnette's site for some of the gory details:
* Tesla Coil Operation, Notches, etc
* Quenching, etc.
Happy reading, 
--Bert 18:10, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  waveform 

message: There's a cool looking photo of a tesla coil in action somewhere in the middle of the article, but it should be on top of the page! Putting it on top, as happens with other articles with nice to-the-point images, makes the whole article more inviting and overall enjoying to read. So trust me, it'll look better once I put it on top! Kreachure 22:09, 13 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  So ''that's'' a Tesla coil! 

message: Couldn't we get one of those pictures of actual Tesla's coils for the top of the article? What are their copyright status? ☢ Ҡieff⌇↯ 17:26, 10 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tesla's coils 

message: What is the purpose of the Tesla coil? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.155.46.32 (talk • contribs) 
here and there, where a high voltage low current high frequency is required, a Tesla transformer (resonant, air core, double tuned) can be the easiest way to provide it, I have seen one example of an airborne pulsed radar using such a power supply. HOWEVER, 99.9% of the TCs in the world are built for the hell of it, because they can be built, for the wow factor and because they look pretty. If I want a kick and do it by buying a 42" home theatre system, anybody with money can do that. But to build a TC I need skill, and how many people have that?NeilUK 07:53, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tesla's purpose? 

message: 2007.1.6 Documented SSTC & VTTC. Some of this article is pretty neat and some is terrible, mainly at the beginning. It seems as though there's a lot of quoting from Tesla's communications or patents, and he wasn't trying too hard to be understood by most of the people who are going to read the article. Was the person who wrote that even a coiler, I wonder, or just for some reason moved to do some transcription? One vote for slash and burn, by anybody who's going to do it right.
There seems to be a lot of ambiguity about whether an "extra coil", or "magnifier", design is being discussed in the Tesla-ese, as opposed to a classical, two-winding setup. If we're going to talk about Tesla's work specifically, lets do it well.
And yes, Tesla was an ordinary man, he took out some patents on things that don't work (and on some that do), he was very histrionic, and let's continue to avoid pseudoscience.
72.72.37.51 02:04, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Responsible rewrite still needed 

message: This section:
"In Atlanta GA, USA, students at Morehouse College have constructed a 32ft tall, 4.5 gigawatt coil to demonstrate potential biological effects of high voltage current on human populations. It was designed by Dr.Andrew Hedrick, also of Atlanta, and funded by a grant from Harpo Productions. It is reported that during operation, people within a 20 block radius of the device can feel the hair on the back of their necks stand up, and small sparks can be seen jumping between the teeth of people."
Has to be absolutely untrue for several reasons.  There's no way any college kids could have built a 4.5 GIGAWATT coil.  That would be more power output than most nuclear power plants are capable of.  Using the current standard equation for predicting tesla coil output, that would result in sparks 6700 feet long from the top of the coil.  That probably would have been noticed, and made significant national and international news.  Not to mention because of all the nearby people that would kill, both by lightning strikes, and anyone with a pacemaker.
I also call into question the idea that any university could get permission to do experiments on a human population, especially those that involve high voltage electricity flying through the air, and sparks jumping between people's teeth.  And as noted above, anyone with a pacemaker would die after it malfunctioned due to the extreme radio transmissions from the coil.
*Removed offending section* —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hightek02 (talk • contribs) 19:11, 28 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Atlanta Ga experiment on population? 

message: Need citations. Putting them under each bullet. J. D. Redding
* The secondary coil and its capacitor can be used in receive mode.
** Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. (Available at pbs.org)
** U.S. Patent 0685957  - Apparatus for the utilization of radiant energy - N. Tesla
** U.S. Patent 0685958  - Method of utilizing of radiant energy - N. Tesla
** "Apparatus for Transmitting Electrical Energy," Jan. 18, 1902, U.S. Patent 1,119,732, Dec. 1, 1914 (available at  and tfcbooks' Apparatus for Transmitting Electrical Energy)
* The Tesla Coil can also be made to utilize atmospheric electricity.
** Plauson, U.S. Patent 1540998 , "Conversion of atmospheric electric energy". Jun. 1925.
** U.S. Patent 0685957  - Apparatus for the utilization of radiant energy - N. Tesla
** U.S. Patent 0685958  - Method of utilizing of radiant energy - N. Tesla
*Tesla stated that the output power attained from these devices was low.
** Noted that this was only via Hertzian methods
*There are, to date, no commercial power generation applications that use this technology.
** Noted that this was only via Hertzian methods
*The power levels achieved by Tesla Coil receivers have, thus far, been a small fraction of the output power of the transmitters.
** Noted that this was only via Hertzian methods
*Various public demonstration of such technology, by any individual, group, college or university, industrial concern, government agency or laboratory or other entity of various kind have been reported.
**Tesla power could have been world changing on the electrical grid, but electrical companies turned it down because the couldn't put a counter on it! Basically, they couldn't charge people for using tesla!
I wonder if most, or all, of this section shouldn't be moved to Wireless energy transfer? Bert 14:31, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: OK... The discussions/references pertaining to Tesla's Radiant Energy patents in the "Reception" section have nothing to do with Tesla Coils. Their presence in an article about Tesla Coils is confusing and off topic. A Tesla Coil resonator can indeed serve as reception device to detect rapid changes in local electrostatic or magnetic fields, and coupling can be inductive, capacitive, or conductive (base driven), and energy transfer can be via near field and/or far field effects. However, Tesla's Radiant Energy patents describe relatively slow charge collection on electrically isolated plates via atmospheric electricity, charged particles, or other sources of ionizing radiation, with the charge being SLOWLY accumulated across a low leakage high voltage capacitor. These patents, and the associated radiant energy discussion, have nothing to do with the description, design, operation, or theory of Tesla Coils. The Radiant Energy patents/discussions have nothing to do with the "Tesla Antennas" either (which is an RF device). Tesla coils utilize energy transfer between two (or more) tuned resonant circuits. Tesla's Radiant Energy patents show a variety of simple capacitor storage circuits including some that switch the charged capacitor to drive loads (either directly, or via an _untuned_ transformer). The entire radiant energy references and discussion might better fit in [Wireless power]] or perhaps {Wardenclyffe Tower]]. In any event, it does not belong here. Bert 16:59, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Reception citations

message: Nikola Tesla Experiments in Alternate Currents Suggested Link—Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.201.165.186 (talk) 20:39, April 18, 2007(commercial)
Tesla-coil Related Live Event(commercial)
Preview of Tesla Event(commercial)
Tesla Coil in action at Griffith Observatory, LA  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.77.2.172 (talk) 18:20, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Suggested link 

message: RE CREDIBILITY: Tesla's radiant energy work would appear to be either photoelectric effect, which is significantly less effective than semiconductor photovoltaic cells, or possibly in some cases the mistaking of atmospheric electricity for a photoelectric effect. The photoelectric effect is regarded as due to the energy imparted to the surface by a photon, which is not charged, causing an electron to fly off. Current is obtained when the electron eventually finds its way to a pole of a utilization or storage device (Tesla's condenser) of which the other pole is connected to the irradiated surface. (Tesla's use of an "insulated" electrode is novel, but at the tiny currents he admitted that he was obtaining the insulation (whatever material it was) might have been conducting. Electrons can seem to get from anywhere to anywhere because each of them is everywhere at once; this is how tunnel diodes work. I don't know whether tunnelling could account for this. In any case, his experiment is no more supportive of "charged corpuscles" than of photoelectric effect. He admits, you may notice, that photoelectric effect was already known prior to his involvement. FETSmoke 15:16, 7 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not proven 

message: Removed statement about Telluric currents in entry paragraph since it does not pertain to actual Tesla Coil operation. Bert 23:53, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Telluric Currents

message: I skimmed this entire article checking the introduction and contents twice, and was left with no idea
1) Why these things were/are built
2) What they actually do
I feel this should be rectified.
Shockeroo 17:24, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  What do they actually DO?! 

message: I just wanted to share a link to a video I made of a pair of tesla coils that were on display at the MAKE/Dorkbot Fair at SXSW Interactive this past spring. The coils are connected to a computer, which has the coils shoot out sparks at specific frequencies, generating music. Thought it might be an interesting way to show a creative use of a Tesla coil in the external links section. Acarvin 13:17, 4 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tesla coil video 

message: A number of companies sell Tesla machines for high prices to credulous individuals at MLM "Tuppleware party" type events.  Expected health benefits are the sole argument for paying the inflated prices demanded, and the sellers move the merchandise by making health claims in direct and indirect ways (frequently seeking to use personal testimonials from someone saying "seemed to help me" as a way to circumvent the ban on making unjustified health claims).  Some machine buyers market individual  "sessions" on the Telsa to trusting "alternative health care clients" too poor to buy a machine outright.  
There are no peer-reviewed placebo-controlled studies for the unauthorized claims, and the devices are not FDA approved for the making of any health claims, nor any convincing evidence that the health benefits touted by the unauthorized claims exist.  
Anyone having information along these lines, adding it to the article may help some trusting folks avoid having their pockets emptied by the delusive hope that the health claims will come true, or that the placebo effects will continue. If you have further information or sources (such as FDA records, warning letters, injunctions, etc.), please add it here, and when this section is ready, please add it to the main article.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.101.68.81 (talk) 17:16, 28 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Health claims 

message: I took care of an old proposal to merge in Solid state Tesla coil to here by merging the text into the discussion of SSTCs at the end of Tesla's later coils. Old talk page here. --Morrand 22:02, 10 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Solid state Tesla coil 

message: Added a reference to 'Tesla Knights' and 'Tesla Cages' in the 'In Fiction' section from 'City of Heroes'. 74.197.90.65 (talk) 04:02, 21 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Added reference to 'City of Heroes' 

message: :OUDIN COIL OR RESONATOR
::Just what is the difference between an Oudin resonator and a Tesla Coil? In his book, HIGH FREQUENCY APPARATUS 1916 Thomas Stanley Curtis says "Oscillation transformers may be broadly classed under these two headings. The Oudin Coil is in reality an auto transformer, i.e., its primary and secondary are connected together at a neutral point which, in the case of High frequency apparatus, could be grounded. In the Tesla coil, the only connection between the primary and the secondary is an inductive one. The two windings are separate and distinct." (See figure.XX) There is also a third type which is any combination of all of the above.
Found this at http://www.plasma-art.com/goodbadsci.html
J. D. Redding 15:14, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, that was the initial distinction, an Oudin coil was an autotransformer, with the primary a part of the secondary, usually wound on the same cylinder with heavier wire Martin, p.187-192.  The bottom of the primary was grounded.  The current was applied to the primary coil with an adjustable tap so that it's frequency could be tuned to match the secondary, which varied with loading as the coil was used Jacoby, p.108.  The output was taken across both coils in series.  In a Tesla coil, although the two coils may be connected, the output was taken only across the secondary.  Not a big difference.  In electrotherapy machines, the major use for such coils, the Tesla circuit was used in America, and the Oudin was preferred in Europe, supposedly because it was safer Strong, p.80-86.   Oudin coils supposedly produced less powerful sparks but longer streamers (or 'effluvia').   Unfortunately, by around 1920 the definition changed, and any high frequency coil that was unipolar, with one end grounded, was called an Oudin coil, while any bipolar coil, with both ends at high potential, was called a Tesla coil.  Ironically, the 'Oudin' coils of that time usually had exactly the same circuit as modern Tesla coils Twining, p.97.   Here's an excellent discussion of the differences] by Jeff Behary who owns the Electrotherapy Museum, where you can see dozens of examples of both types.  --ChetvornoTALK 22:23, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Oudin vs Tesla

message: I live in the area, and I had heard a few months ago (early 2008), a man in Pasadena had been killed by his hobby tesla coil. Either way, if anyone happens to find a source for this... I haven't looked. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.206.23.209 (talk • contribs) 03:46, 4 June 2008
:I searched your area's online newspapers and didn't find anything with the expected keywords. 
:The next step would be to ask the county coroner's office, but if anyone does so, please post the result back here to avoid that office getting too many unnecessary calls. Milo 02:21, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Man killed in Pasadena MD by coil 

message: I've tagged this article with  for the constant safety advice. Articles are not meant to contain such prescription. Our article on crocodiles does not tell readers how to avoid them; we should not be constantly telling people how to behave around electrical equipment. It is unbefitting an encyclopedia and spoils the tone of the article. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 11:27, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tagged for prescription 

message: This article uses "how-to" descriptions in two different ways: to quote original descriptions, mostly from patent applications, and to in a readable way visualize the quite counterintuitive ways in which one has to proceed to create a Tesla coil.
This is not an instruction sheet, nor a manual for constructing a Tesla coil.
The "how-to" style in the description of HV equipment is a necessary part of describing extreme high voltage equipment, to avoid fundamental misconceptions as to how such gear is designed.
One can quibble about quoting the gauges of wires used in original patent application, but they do carry meanings beyond the current carrying capacities usually used for choosing gauges, and carry the flavor of the down-to-earth and naive-patent-writer Tesla, who is the central character of the entry.
Removing either of these parts would reduce the theoretical understanding of a Tesla coil, and the personal connection to the man behind the idea.
Thus the "how-to" tag on the entry is incorrect and should be deleted.
Niklasdellby (talk) 05:26, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  How-to content 

message: The article states:
In a conventional transformer ... voltage gain is limited to the ratio of the numbers of turns in the windings. However, the voltage gain of a disruptive Tesla coil can be significantly greater, since it is instead proportional to the square root of the ratio of secondary and primary inductances.
The square root of a ratio (>1) is less than the ratio. This statement makes no sense. Must it perhaps be 'square' instead of square root?
82.197.193.84 (talk) 19:44, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Operation 

message: There are giant white textless areas in this article currently. The images should be reformatted somehow so that the text is uniform. 128.84.195.68 (talk) 18:38, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Formatting issues 

message: I think this article should be merged here, as it is simply a modification of a tesla coil and I don't think it appears notable enough for a separate article. Jhbuk (talk) 14:47, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Singing Tesla Coil]] merge 

message: Is the thing about John Freshwater really necessary in this article? I mean, I don't have a HUGE issue with it being in here, it just seems more like trivia as opposed to anything informative. 151.207.240.4 (talk) 17:17, 8 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  John Freshwater 

message: Reference 45 (to a Yahoo Groups discussion entry by a Konstantine Meyl) is irrelevant to the topic here, and is certainly not a publication in any meaningful sense.  The section seems to have been put in only to provide a link to the reference rather than to contribute to or illuminate this article.    I'll remove this for now if I can, but I encourage the regular maintainers of this article to follow up.  128.114.130.144 (talk) 02:08, 1 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Irrelevant reference 

message: I gave the article template "Too technical" template, because I think this article is hard to understand for someone who is not an expert in this field. The article says its a type of 'resonant transformer' and I click the link to this article with the name 'Resonant inductive coupling' and that word means even less to me. Maybe we should change those hard-to-understand-words like 'resonant transformer' and 'Resonant inductive coupling' with the words which would get more clue to somebody reading it.  188.230.174.229 (talk) 19:56, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article too hard to understand 

message: A capacitor is a device that can store electrostatic charge. It consists of two plates of electrical conducting material separated by insulating material. When a battery is connected to a capacitor it will become charged. 
A coil made of conducting material such as copper wire, will generate electricity when a magnetic field pass through it. 
When a charged capacitor is connected to a coil, the charge on the capacitor's plates flows as a current through the coil and a magnetic field develops around the coil until the capacitor loses its charge. At this time, the magnetic field around the coil begins to collapse and the collapsing field generates an electric current, but with reversed polarity. This current from the coil recharges the capacitor. Once the capacitor is charged, the cycle repeats until such time that the alternating current between capacitor and coil reduces to 'zero' due to losses in the circuit. The frequency of oscillation depends on the values of capacitance and inductance. The astute reader may ask: "When the current first flows through the coil, does it not create an electric field and hence generates an electric current?" Yes it does and this is known as "back-emf" but it is less than that of the capacitor driving the current.
With this simple arrangement, the alternating current (AC) will in practice only last for a very short duration. 
Tesla's arrangement of coils and capacitors permit in effect a means of keeping the "primary capacitor" topped up with electrostatic charge so that the AC is maintained indefinitely.
GeorgeHY (talk) 13:30, 18 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  The basic principle of capacitor-inductance resonance may help a layman's understanding 

message: This section mentions the tesla coil midi system that was built and shown on "America's got talent" (and by many others) and includes specific details such as the midi and microcontroller (Zeusaphone solution) which are not significant to the generation of sound with telsa coils, the wording here is very misleading implying that the midi protocol or microcontroller are significant.
The note that the microcontroller takes digital data (i.e. midi signals) and outputs a PWM signal just shows that the tesla coil "speakers" are being driven by a pseudo-analog input. BrainSlugs83 (talk) 21:48, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Popularity: MIDI & Microcontroller not significant to sound generation with Tesla Coils 

message: I am very unhappy with the current state of this article. It confusingly talks about several circuits which may or may not actually contain tesla coils, without ever stating what exactly a tesla coil is. It is woefully short on theory. It trivializes the device as mere entertainment. It is a hodgepodge of "fun" trivia that has little reason for being in an encyclopedia. It looks like what it is: a mishmash of remarks on an ill-defined subject.
It should start by stating unambiguously what a tesla coil actually is: two air-core coils, a long inner primary one and a short outer secondary one concentric around the inner one.
Then it should state what a tesla coil is used for: generating high voltages at high frequencies, when properly driven by a tuned circuit. Typically, output amperage is minimal in demonstration devices for safety sake, though this is not inherent in the device itself. (Experimenter Donald Lee Smith claims that positioning the secondary coil near the center of the primary instead of at the end results in high amperage.) Such high voltage, high frequency electrical potential can be used for broadcast and power transmission purposes, etc.
It might usefully state what similar or easily confused things are not tesla coils and how they fail to qualify as tesla coils, with references to articles for those other devices.
Then there should be a theory of operation section that employs suitable equations to relate the characteristics of the required input and the coil configuration parameters to produce a specific output.
A History section should include Tesla's own uses and proposed uses for the device as well as other notable later developments in experimentation and application (not mere demonstration and entertainment).
A Popular Culture section covering demonstration and entertainment uses should in no way be allowed to dominate the article. In no way should the importance of such a fundamental electrical device be trivialized.
Dlw20070716 (talk) 19:40, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree it sure needs a rewrite.  Just a heads-up: edits to this article attract long contentious arguments and edit wars.   A lot if it was written by hobbyists who have strong opinions but not much theory, as well as Tesla groupies, and "alternative energy" and "broadcast power" fanatics who are convinced Tesla had the secret to transmitting power wirelessly around the world.  BTW, current usage of the term "Tesla coil" refers to both the coil and the exciting circuit.  --ChetvornoTALK 20:00, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  This article needs a complete rewrite