If there’s one thing Blasted Science likes more than Jacob’s Ladders, it’s microwaves. They’re loaded with tons of useful equipment, most notably the massive transformer and the magnetron. We’re planning on making a HERF gun out of one, but first we’re going to have a little fun. Hopefully something explodes.

The post New Video: Microwave Experiments with Various Household Objects appeared first on Blasted Science.

This is hands-down the easiest way to make a Jacob’s Ladder, period. All you need is an old TV and a death wish.

The actual tutorial in the video is quite subtle, so here’s a written explanation of exactly what we did:

Instructions:

1. Take apart a CRT TV. Be careful! They can implode if you crack the glass.
2. Rip the circuit board out. This will probably require cutting a few wires.
3. Plug it into the wall, and turn it on. You should hear a high-pitched noise. This is the part where you be EXTREMELY careful.
4. Two of the biggest (usually red) wires will arc up to a few centimeters. These are the wires you want. Don’t get your bare skin near them. Keep your left hand behind your back at all times.
5. Hook the two arcing wires up to a pair of metal rods that are in a long V-shape. Voila! That’s all there is to it.

You might have to initiate the spark by putting something metal between the two wires at the bottom.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. A SINGLE MISTAKE WILL KILL YOU. The electricity is powerful enough to instantly kill you. Would not recommend.

The post New Video: How to Make a 20,000 Volt Jacob’s Ladder (Sort of) appeared first on Blasted Science.

Late Condolences to a Brother in Arms

Turns out we aren’t the only idiots in the world. Some other guy decided to copy us and make a Jacob’s ladder. Unlike us, though, they were unable to keep themselves safe. They are no longer with us. Actually, they haven’t been with us for almost a year now. We didn’t get the message until recently.

Homemade Jacob’s Ladder

A young boy, not unlike the members of Blasted Science, built a Jacob’s Ladder in his garage, just like we did. Tragically, he was found dead by his parents.

A 15-year-old boy in Ohio electrocuted himself while attempting a science experiment he saw on YouTube, Reuters reported.

The teenager, Morgan Wojciechowski, tried to conduct a high-voltage experiment, called Jacob’s Ladder, in the garage of his home in northern Ohio. Wojciechowski’s parents found him there on Tuesday, ABC News reported, and emergency crews took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Source

Cause of Death

The article suggests that the reason he died was because many online Jacob’s Ladder tutorials don’t have any warning about how dangerous it is:

It’s easy to find a Jacob’s Ladder tutorial on the internet, and it might not tell you you can die from making it.

That’s a pretty awful thing for people to do. How could they just ignore the danger to their viewer’s lives? That’s downright sinister. A big problem for many tutorials is that the author can unintentionally assume that the viewer already knows how dangerous electrical experiments are.

(Editor’s note: contrary to popular belief, we aren’t guilty of this whatsoever; we know how dangerous Jacob’s Ladders are, but choose to ignore it. Because we’re smart, y’all.)

The Lesson

Don’t be a dumb! Compared to the one in the article, our Jacob’s Ladder had double the voltage and we probably took less precautions. There’s also no chance that we’re more intelligent than our deceased compadre. How did we survive? The answer is simply the combination of our two best traits: sheer luck and incredibly thick, resistive skin.

Blasted Science’s first attempt at a Jacob’s Ladder.

The post Possible Foreshadowing? A Failed Jacob’s Ladder Experiment appeared first on Blasted Science.

How to Use Electricity is an educational series of posts designed to help teach you practical applications of electricity in DIY projects.

If you read our last post in this series, you will have read this paragraph:

Learning about electricity can be overwhelming. The purpose of this series is to explain the fundamentals of electricity in a simple and practical way. Let’s get started.

But we don’t think we did a very good job. (“We” is the word “we” use when “we” want to spread the blame.) So we’re taking a step back.

Our last tutorial was a basic introduction to a practical use of electricity, but in retrospect, that probably wasn’t the best way to begin a tutorial series. Anyone who’s ever taken a high school physics class has a fairly solid understanding of electricity. So, with that fact in mind, we’re going to pretend you’re completely clueless and are going to start with explaining electricity at its most basic.

What is Electricity?

Science aside, electricity is can be one of two things: either it charges your phone or it makes some massive sparks that will permanently ruin flint and steel for you.

There are two broad categories of electricity: static and current.

Static

Static electricity is pretty cool, but we’re not going to talk about it. Here’s a tutorial by Nighthawkinlight that explains how to make a static electricity generator.

If you clicked a link to this post because you wanted to find out what static electricity is, you’re in the wrong place. The only possible project that uses it has already been made. And you just watched it.

Current

Current electricity refers to electrons moving (as opposed to static electricity, in which electrons stay in the same place and make your hair stand up). This nifty stuff has the look, taste, and consistency of lemonade.

A lithium-ion battery

The most notable use of current electricity is made possible by the walls of your house. As you probably already knew (because you’ve read our previous post), those little, circular wall outlets are responsible for everything from mowing your lawn to spreading the butter evenly over your second helping of toast. Essentially, you owe your life to these angels in disguise. However, at Blasted Science, we don’t care about life. We are much more interested in danger. And we’ll let you play along.

Experiment

Here’s a simple, educational project you can do at home:

1. Put on half a pair of thick leather gloves.
2. In your newly insulated hand, place a piece of wire.
3. Insert one end of the wire into the left hole of the wall socket (be careful not to let the wire touch your skin. This is what the glove is for.)
4. Stick the other end of the wire into the right hole of the wall socket.
5. Try not to flinch.

What can we learn from this project?

Electricity is roughly ten times more entertaining when used incorrectly. That figure is accurate to within a factor of ten, depending on how bright the sparks get. In this example, you probably saw a fairly bright, short-lived, blue spark accompanied by a loud popping sound.

Why did the spark go away?

If too much current tries to come out of the wall outlet, the power gets shut off. Placing the wire into both holes short-circuited the wall outlet, which then tried to draw way too much current. The current flows for a fraction of a second before the fuse box snapped the puny socket’s neck, in exactly the way a murderer in rehab wouldn’t.

Why did the power in half my house just go out?

As explained above, drawing too much power will shut off the current. Often, the power to the surrounding portion of your house will also be shut off.^{[citation needed]} At least, we’re pretty sure that happens. Honestly, that might not be the case at all. We’re too lazy to test it. To fix this, locate your fuse box, open it, and flip random switches until everything is working again. Save any open documents on your computer before trying this.

Are the gloves absolutely necessary?

Technically you only need one glove. But, yes, that glove is absolutely necessary. It’s also important to note that the glove needs to be on the hand that is holding the wire. Otherwise it’s possible that you’ll feel a mildly excruciating tingly sensation that causes some serious damage to your hand. Don’t you dare do this and try to sue us! You will get hurt. We do not advise trying this. Sarcasm can’t protect you from 120 volts. Also, we don’t have any money, so that would get awkward fast.

In conclusion

Ignorance is bliss, and we aren’t going to take that away from you.

The post How to Use Electricity: The Basics appeared first on Blasted Science.

Wrong.

Actually, you’re probably right. Tesla coil aren’t easy. Building one is a big accomplishment in the DIY electronics world. It takes lots of time and effort. Let’s try to remove those requirements with a quick crash course:

Tesla coils are one of the many inventions invented by Nikola Tesla. The Coils produces high-voltage, high frequency alternating-current electricity. They consists of two main parts: a primary coil, and a secondary coil. In fact, “Tesla” is actually Latin for “contains a primary and secondary coil.

By far the most difficult part of building one is finding a power source. These bad boys take some serious juice to operate. Once the power is connected the primary capacitor starts charging. As the capacitor fills up with electricity, that it lowers the air resistance of the spark. Then is leaves the capacitor and through the primary coil. As it does that it creates an electromagnetic field. Then again the immense charge, overloads and makes the magnetic field collapse in on itself. Generating an electric current in the secondary coil. The volts go through the air between the two coils creating a spark. It bounces back and forth through the coils, charging the secondary coil, and capacitor. Then it overloads and a spark breaks from the coil in a big burst of current.

Source: tb3.net

Tesla coils are very exciting and can be made fairly easily with a few feet of copper wire, and some capacitors. here’s a schematic for you smart folks:

Essentially, all they require is:

• A high voltage power supply.
• A bunch of capacitors.
• A freaking TON of copper wire wound into a coil.

That’s all there is to it. They’re simpler than most people think. In fact, it’s probably harder to wind the wire into a coil than it is to find and assemble all the parts. The hardest part is finding a high voltage DC power supply. They cost hundreds of dollars, or you can just make your own for much cheaper. We’ll have a tutorial on the details at some point.

Plenty of people on the internet have made Tesla coils, but this is one of our favorites. Sam Freeman’s coil requires beer bottles. This redneck nerd gets the official Blasted Science Seal of Approval.

Let’s assume for a moment that you have a competed Tesla coil. Why stop there? Here are some things you can do to it to make it even better.

A plasma gun

Source: RM Cybernetics

Car anti-theft system

Source: Tesla Down Under

Music

We’re ashamed to admit that we haven’t made our own Tesla coil yet, but we definitely will at some point. And when we do, we’ll have a tutorial detailing exactly how to do it with household parts. But if that sounds like too much work, you can buy a small one for just a few dollars. We’ve personally tested this one from Amazon. It’s a very good miniature plasma globe, which, as you may have guessed, is just a Tesla coil in a plastic globe. Definitely check this one out.

The post Tesla Coils appeared first on Blasted Science.