Gizmodo: Zap

The Best Way To Cook Hot Dogs: by Tesla Coil

Kit Eaton — Tue, 06 May 2008 05:59:20 EDT

The most exiting way to cook hot dogs: connect a chain of 12 of them up and send bolts of multi-thousand-volt electricity through them. Awesome, and all thanks to the Nevada Lightning Lab and their 10-foot Tesla coil at Maker Faire '08. And amazingly, the coil they used is just a prototype for a 122-foot version they want to build for lightning experiments. Imagine the light show and cookability you'd get from that! [Lightning Lab via Oh Gizmo]

Cordless Drill Modded to Become a Tesla Coil

Adam Frucci — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:10:00 EST

I like me some tesla coils, so it's no wonder that I'm a fan of a power drill modded into a tesla coil. Sure, it's not playing the Mario Bros theme or playing out a scene from Red Alert, but it's still cool in my book. Who cares that a perfectly good drill was made that much less useful? It's cool. [TechEBlog via Geekologie]

Awesome Red Alert Tesla Coil Makes Quick Work of Allied Soldiers

Adam Frucci — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:03:43 EST

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Command and Conquer: Red Alert was the first PC strategy game that I really got into, and it's still one of my all-time favorites. That's why I can't help but fall in love with this homemade Tesla coil setup made as an homage to the classic game. The picture above isn't Photoshopped at all; it's a single, 17-second exposure taken with a Nikon D70. That's not to say no special effects were used, however.

Because Tesla coils can't actually shoot long, single bursts of lightning at a target, wires were strung between the coil and its targets to act as a path for the energy to move down. The coil then sent out three-foot bursts along the wires. By using the longer exposure, the bursts all strung together to look like a continuous shock.

As for the figures, they're all handmade, from the cutout of the zapped Allied soldier to the Tesla soldier to the engineer. Be sure to check out the project page for a detailed breakdown of how it was completed with plenty of photos. [Project Page via Neatorama]

Cheapness Sends Student to the Grave via Computer Electrocution

Adam Frucci — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:15:00 EDT

From the Embarrassing Obituaries Dept.: a 20-year-old student in Shanghai was killed when his computer electrocuted him. Apparently, it was very hot outside, yet Wu refused to turn the AC on. His computer was overheating, so rather than go with the AC, he took the case off to let it breath. His sweaty legs hit some exposed wires, and he got zapped into oblivion. Yikes. Let that be a lesson to you: Don't be so cheap that you refuse to turn the AC on even when it's so hot your computer is about to crash. It could kill you. [Shanghai Daily via Weird Asia News]