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A Tesla coil is a high-voltage, air-core, self-regenerative resonant transformer that generates very high voltages at high frequency, named after its inventor Nikola Tesla. The coil achieves a great gain in voltage by means of a resonant circuit, unlike a conventional transformer whose gain is limited to the ratio of the numbers of turns in the windings. The Tesla coil's outer conducting surfaces, which are charged to a high potential, have large radii of curvature to minimise leakage of the oscillating charge.
The intensity of the voltage gain of the circuit with a free, or elevated, toroid is proportional to the quantity of charge displaced, which is determined by the product of the capacitance of the circuit, the voltage (which Tesla called " pressure"), and the frequency of the currents employed.
The primary and secondary coil s make up an air-core transformer. Tesla coils are composed of two coupled LC circuits: the tank circuit, which is a series LC circuit composed of the capacitor, spark gapA spark gap consists of an arrangement of two conducting electrodes separated by a gap usually filled with some gas (usually air). When a suitable voltage is supplied, a spark forms, ionizing the gas and drastically reducing its electrical resistance., and primary coil; and the second LC circuit, a series resonant circuit, which is the secondary coil and the toroid. The toroid is one terminal of a capacitor, the other terminal being the groundThe word ground has several meanings: The surface of the Earth Soil, a mixture of sand and organic material present on the surface of the Earth Ground (electricity), in electrical engineering, something that is connected to the Earth or at the voltage def.
The terminal consists of a metallic frame, sometimes a circular ring covered with smooth half spherical metalFor alternative meanings see metal (disambiguation). In chemistry, a metal is an element that readily forms cations and has metallic bonds, and it is sometimes said that it is similar to a cation in a cloud of electrons. The metals are one of the three gr plates (constituting a very large conducting surface). The terminal has relatively small capacitance, charged to as high a voltage as practicable. The elevated conductorIn science and engineering, conductors are materials that contain movable charges of electricity. When an electric potential difference is impressed across separate points on a conductor, an electric current between those points appears in accordance with, its outer surface, is where the electrical charge chiefly accumulates. It has a large radiusThe word radius ( Latin for "wheel spoke"; plural radii pronounced ray dee-eye has several meanings in English: In classical geometry, a radius of a circle or sphere is any line segment with one endpoint on the circle (i. the circular boundary) and the ot of curvature, or is composed of separate elements which, irrespective of their own radii of curvature, are arranged close to each other so that the outside ideal surface enveloping them has a large radius.
The frame is carried by a strong platform and rests on insulatingThis page refers to thermal insulation. For electrical insulation see insulators, and for sound insulation see sound proofing. Often the same techniques used for thermal insulation can be used for sound insulation as well. Insulation is sometimes confused supports. The circuit consists of a coil in close inductive relation with a primary, and one end of which is connected to a ground-plate, while its other end is led through a separate self-induction coil (whose connection should always be made at, or near, the center in order to secure a symmetricalSymmetry is a characteristic of geometrical shapes, equations and other objects; we say that such an object is symmetric with respect to a given operation if this operation, when applied to the object, does not appear to change it. The three main symmetri distribution of the current) and a metallic cylinder to the terminal. The primary coil may be excited by any desired source, such as an alternator, capacitor, or condenser. The important requirement is that a resonant condition be established.
The conductor of the shaft to the terminal is in the form of a cylinder with smooth surface of a radius much larger than that of the spherical metal plates, and widens out at the bottom into a hood (which is slotted to avoid loss by eddy currents and for safety). The secondary coil is wound on a drum of insulating material, with its turns close together. When the effect of the small radius of curvature of the wire itself is overcome, the lower secondary coil behaves as a conductor of large radius of curvature, corresponding to that of the drum (this effect is applicable elsewhere). The lower end of the upper secondary coil, if desired, may be extended up to the terminal and should be somewhat below the uppermost turn of the primary coil. This lessens the tendency of the charge to break out from the wire connecting both and to pass along the support.