Free Energy and the Tesla Coils

 Among my many inventions, I always dreamed of free energy and electricity around the world: had capitalistic greed not stood in my way, I would surely have achieved my goal. Electric power is everywhere present in unlimited quantities and can drive the world's machinery without the need of coal, gas, oil or any other of the common fuels- so why not share it?


 I first started working on how I could transfer electricity to masses wirelessly. Initially, I created the Coil in Colorado Springs to experiment on the idea of creating a wireless power grid. There I was given free power, as well as funding for my tests. At that lab, I could test the theory, creating electrical arcs that essentially were man-made lightning, and could be seen for miles. With this invention I could even wirelessly power lightbulbs-this grabbed the attention of J.P. Morgan, who was interested in funding my project. Originally the tower's use was going to be much more different, but when Marconi beat the Wardenclyffe tower that was built for it at wireless radio transmission, I decided to change my research for an energy source everyone could tap into all around the globe. 

 My tower intended to make it possible to transmit the power for free, creating a channel between the Earth and the ionosphere for anyone to be able to use freely. Unfortunately, I needed even more money to accomplish this, but Mr Morgan was threatened at the prospect of free energy- he was one of the leading manufacturers of copper, a widely used conductor for electricity, as well as a capitalist whose work centered around profiting from others.

How It Works

 A Tesla coil consists of two parts: a primary and secondary coil, each with its own capacitor. (We could call them a sort of "battery". They store energy) The two coils and capacitors are connected by a spark gap — a gap of air between two electrodes that generates the spark of electricity. An outside power source hooked up to a transformer powers the whole system. Essentially, the Tesla coil is two open electric circuits connected to a spark gap.

 A Tesla coil needs a high-voltage power source. It needs to be at least thousands of volts to work. In this case, a transformer can convert the low voltage of main power into the high voltage.

The power source is hooked up to the primary coil. The primary coil's capacitor acts like a sponge and soaks up the charge. The primary coil must be able to withstand the massive charge and surges of electric current, so the coil is usually made out of copper, a good conductor of electricity. Eventually, the capacitor builds up so much charge that it breaks down the air resistance in the spark gap. Then, similar to squeezing a wet sponge, the current flows out of the capacitor down the primary coil and creates a magnetic field.

The massive amount of energy makes the magnetic field collapse quickly, and generates an electric current in the secondary coil. The voltage zipping through the air between the two coils creates sparks in the spark gap. The energy sloshes back and forth between the two coils several hundred times per second, and builds up in the secondary coil and capacitor. Eventually, the charge in the secondary capacitor gets so high that it breaks free in a spectacular burst of electric current.

The Coil Today: Singing Tesla Coils

Nowadays, the coil I constructed isn't commonly used in much of anything, and definitely not daily life, like I would have wanted it to with free electricity around the globe. As it turns out, the coil is used in science shows, and perhaps there is hope that one day my dream will be achieved- but most surprisingly, some artists use the coil to make music! It has spectacular effects, both sound and visual wise. Electricity looks mesmerizing. 

Here's an explanation of how making music with the coil and current works, since I am not at all experienced with music in any way. I'm an inventor, not a musician!

A couple of very well done examples here, and there are so many more on the web. 

Canon in D Major

AC/DC- Thunderstruck (possibly the best combination regarding the names and the coil itself)

Even this classical music track I heard back in the day, composed around when I was 20!

It's amazing what people can do with electricity, isn't it?