Light Emitting Diodes, Electric Fields, and a Few Burnt FingersTheodore GurtsakAward: Top 100
School: brunswick high school The Tesla coil is undeniably one of the best examples of Tesla's genius. At the time, the demonstrations he conducted with this device and many others were nothing but magic to the public. One of his demonstrations consisted of two sheets of zinc, separated by 15 feet, and connected to a circuit. This created an electrical field. Once the field was activated, he would hold a vacuum-sealed gas tube within the field with his hands, and, to the awe of the crown, they would glow like lightsabers in his hands. To them it was magic, to us was the frontier of science at the time. While I don't have large sheets of zinc at my disposal, I do have a Tesla coil to recreate this magic moment. Similarly to the vacuum tubes, LEDs can be lit using a similar principle. When held between two fingers and placed in an electric field that is defined by Maxwell's Equations, a current will be induced through the LED. However, when bridging the gap between the metal rods the current runs through the skin of the fingers. This is fine at far distances from the center of the field since the electric field is much weaker, but at close distances, the stronger field induces a large enough current to burn my fingers. Ouch! But in the end, it was all worth it for a killer shot. 
|
|