Tesla Coils at Krannert

During high school I became really involved in technical theatre. I was as close to a theatre kid as you could get without ever being on stage. To this day, I have never acted in a show, but I have been a part of over 30 productions backstage. I love tech theatre because it incorporates some of the coolest aspects of engineering -- incredible technology, powerful computers, and creative design -- yet it is still a form of art and a way to express yourself. The more advanced (and expensive) equipment you have available, the more interesting, expressive, and impressive the show will be.

Tech theatre may impress an audience, while on the other hand, the design process of a plastic cup, the circuits in an iPod, or the machinery used to assemble a computer is hardly exciting to someone who has no engineering background. Engineering can be quite dull to those who may not appreciate something simple, regardless of how complex it may be beneath the surface. But when an audience sees what you have "engineered" on the stage, they can appreciate it no matter how interested they are in the technology you used to create it. I have always hoped I could get involved in a field of engineering that would impress people, not just one that would get taken for granted.

I saw something along these lines on Saturday night after a New Music Ensemble concert at Krannert. There was a group of engineers/musicians called the Masters of Lightning who had built two solid-state Tesla coils. One of these was connected to a computer via MIDI, and the other to a Continuum Fingerboard keyboard that allowed the Tesla coils to play different notes and essentially make music. I saw them setting up the Tesla coils and speakers earlier that day, and I thought it would be really cool to see (I have seen videos of "singing" Tesla coils before, but never in person). Other people had the same idea apparently, and there was a large crowd gathered around the Krannert amphitheater well before the concert started. The audience loved the concert, regardless of whether or not they had any idea how this music was being created. What's more, this wasn't just art, it was also engineering at its finest. What this showed me is that engineering does not always have to be something that happens behind the scenes. It is not limited to the design of a product, or in its production. It can be found front and center in so many things, and the engineers who create it can see just how much an audience can love something they may or may not even understand. I am making it one of my goals to be one of those engineers. I want people to see firsthand how impressive engineering can be. Just like an audience can watch a play, musical, or Tesla coil performance and be moved by the lighting, the sound effects, or an electrical arc that makes music, I want what I engineer to be something people will be inspired by.

Here is a video of the Tesla coil performance from 9/26 of the 2001: A Space Odyssey theme

Here's another video, this time Terry Blake aka Dr. Zeus goes in between the Tesla coils in a Faraday cage suit. He did all sorts of stunts (not in the video, unfortunately) including illuminating neon tubes, lighting a 2x4 on fire, and conducting electricity through a blowtorch to his suit.

The quality is kind of bad on these videos, so you can listen to another performance by the Masters of Lightning playing the Ghostbusters theme here (better quality)

By the way, from what I have read so far, Tesla coils work by running a certain current through a few primary windings which induces an enormous voltage in a high number of secondary windings. This transformer creates a corona discharge because it conducts electricity through the ions in the air surrounding the coil. The corona rapidly heats up the air, and when done at the right frequency, creates audible sound.