However, my explanation there seemed to generate a lot of controversy among "professionals" that work with electricity. I decided to make a more thorough explanation with this video. However, my stance on the matter is unchanged!
English This video has been dubbed using an artificial voice via aloud.area120.google.com to increase accessibility. You can change the audio track language in the Settings menu.
Spanish Este video ha sido doblado al español con voz artificial con aloud.area120.google.com para aumentar la accesibilidad. Puede cambiar el idioma de la pista de audio en el menú Configuración.
Portuguese Este vídeo foi dublado para o português usando uma voz artificial via aloud.area120.google.com para melhorar sua acessibilidade. Você pode alterar o idioma do áudio no menu Configurações.
However, my explanation there seemed to generate a lot of controversy among "professionals" that work with electricity. I decided to make a more thorough explanation with this video. However, my stance on the matter is unchanged!
English This video has been dubbed using an artificial voice via aloud.area120.google.com to increase accessibility. You can change the audio track language in the Settings menu.
Spanish Este video ha sido doblado al español con voz artificial con aloud.area120.google.com para aumentar la accesibilidad. Puede cambiar el idioma de la pista de audio en el menú Configuración.
Portuguese Este vídeo foi dublado para o português usando uma voz artificial via aloud.area120.google.com para melhorar sua acessibilidade. Você pode alterar o idioma do áudio no menu Configurações.I built a long-range LASER turret in my yard!styropyro2024-01-25 | FlexiSpot New Year Sale Don't miss out on savings! Use the E7PLUS50 and C7300 for an instant 50 and 30 off.
Spanish Este video ha sido doblado al español con voz artificial con aloud.area120.google.com para aumentar la accesibilidad. Puede cambiar el idioma de la pista de audio en el menú Configuración.
Portuguese Este vídeo foi dublado para o português usando uma voz artificial via aloud.area120.google.com para melhorar sua acessibilidade. Você pode alterar o idioma do áudio no menu Configurações.Testing CRAZY chemistry recipes from a 1933 formulary book (part 4)styropyro2023-04-10 | FlexiSpot Easter Deals: Use code "styro60" for up to 40% off. Buy now!
In this video I test even more crazy recipes from the notorious 1933 chemical formulary. 0:00 intro 0:55 cancer sticks 2:50 lab top stain 5:32 coloring coal 7:16 cyanide ant killer 7:40 artificial fog 9:34 artificial perspiration 10:28 chloroform medicine 10:46 arsenic smoke effect 11:44 silver plate bone 12:52 bone hurting juice 14:07 mercury stomach gas relief 14:26 blue light of death 16:07 hole plug 17:45 mercury lotion 18:03 fake rocks with uranium 19:58 glow-in-the-dark pigment 21:08 toilet vinegar 21:52 FBI visit 24:06 outrothe brightest laser pointer in the world!styropyro2022-12-05 | I built the biggest and brightest laser pointer ever!
This is my most requested video of all time! In this video I test a bunch more crazy recipes from the notorious 1933 chemical formulary. Uranium crayons, cold fire, and much more insanity in this one!
0:00 intro 1:20 uranium crayons 3:04 sore throat relief 4:51 asthma remedy 5:05 magnetizable mercury 6:00 cold fire 7:56 eye drops 8:11 hardening copper 9:03 purple parade torches 9:53 cyanide coffee 10:23 acid proof 12:06 low melting temp metal 13:03 anti sneezing 13:10 toilet milk 14:12 battery polarity 14:36 silvering glass 16:26 channel updatesI converted my microwave into a LASER oven!styropyro2021-09-24 | the original macrowave
In this video I attempted to modify my microwave to cook better by upgrading the magnetron power supply. Switching from a half wave voltage doubler to the full wave circuit allowed me to double the power and then some, but I eventually ended up frying the magnetron.
I ended up gutting the original parts and added my own bank of high power blue laser diode arrays. The new oven draws about 2kW of power, and about 700W of that makes it out as laser light. I cooked a bunch of different foods with it like smores, steak, toast, and several others.
Cooking food with lasers is one of the most requested experiments I try on this channel, so this laser oven should satisfy those desires quite nicely. The effects on food are interesting to say the least. Lots of things burn under the blue light, adding a "smoky" flavor. Yummy.
Song at 8:55 is "We Made It" by Reed MathisI drove into a huge tornado outbreakstyropyro2021-08-12 | Nerd vs. 7 tornadoes. Who will win?
What started as a simple desire to see cool storms got carried away and I ended up getting chased down the prairie by a huge tornado.
I know this is quite different from my usual content on this channel, but it was simply too cool not to share. I hope you guys like it!
I should probably have given more background on why I ended up in the middle of this tornado outbreak lol. I've been a life long weather enthusiast, and more recently, I've gotten into storm chasing. In the days leading up to August 9, there was a decent signal on the weather forecast models for tornadoes in northern IL.
More often than not, forecasts like these just don't pan out. Occasionally they can be spectacular though, so I was willing to make the trip in case something cool happened. What unfolded that afternoon blew every chaser's wildest expectations. EVERY storm was spinning, and so many of them had TEXTBOOK supercell structure! It was the experience of a lifetime for a weather nerd!
I want to thank B. Dean Berry for all the storm chasing equipment recommendations, Mike Brady for all the advice he gave me when I first started chasing, as well as all of the members of the StormTrack community for their knowledge and analysis over the years. Oh yeah, all the meteorologists at the SPC and NWS are awesome too. :DTesting dangerous DIY medical lasers from eBaystyropyro2021-01-30 | Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/styropyro - Enter promo code STYROPYRO for 83% off and 3 extra months for free!
I stumbled across some ridiculous eBay listings for DIY medical and cosmetic lasers recently, and I couldn't resist the urge to test some of them out. They turned out more horrible than I could have imagined!!
The worst laser in this bunch is by FAR the "neatcell" spot removal laser. This thing is EXTREMELY dangerous. Not only can it blind you instantly, but it will likely leave terrible scars if you use it on yourself to remove tattoos (or acne, freckles, and all the other stuff it claims to remove). To make matters worse, it sells like crazy!!! D: If you know anybody who owns one of these, tell them to get rid of it immediately!!
The next laser I showed after the neatcell is the q-switched tattoo burner laser I've showcased on this channel before. This thing is absolutely crazy, capable of peak powers exceeding a MILLION watts. Unlike the neatcell, it *might* be useful in the hands of a trained operator to remove tattoos, but it certainly isn't safe by any means.
The next "laser" turned out to not be a laser at all. The "plasma spot removal laser" turned out to be what is essentially a "slayer exciter" circuit in a pen style housing. Although not as scary as the first two lasers, I wouldn't recommend using it on yourself. It is an interesting and compact source of high frequency electricity though.
Finally, I tested out a GIGANTIC q-switched surgical laser that I bought used on eBay. Although NOT advertised for DIY use, it still fit the theme of eBay medical lasers so I showcased it anyway. This thing is capable of over 100W average of 532nm green light, with peak output power exceeding 10kW.Crazy Keychain Laser Pointer Upgrades. 5mW to 3000mW+styropyro2020-11-25 | Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/styropyro - Enter promo code STYROPYRO for 84% off and 4 extra months for free!
I've always wanted an extremely powerful keychain laser "pointer" so I made it happen, even if it took supercapacitors and some of the craziest laser diode tech out there.
first song is "Deserts" by Text Me Records/Bobby Renz song at end is "Modern Situations" by Unicorn HeadsBuilding a fire death machine using soviet military techstyropyro2020-08-07 | What started as a simple desire for a better arc lighter got carried away and I ended up making the scariest device I've ever built.
In this video I tested a plasma lighter and attempted some modifications to it. I tried hooking it up to a voltage multiplier as well as raising the input voltage, but my results weren't that impressive. So, I turned to the sketchiest schematic I've ever come across, the "HFVTTC".
The HFVTTC is a circuit that operates sort of like a Tesla coil, but considerably more scary and with a flame like output. There is very little on this circuit in English, so it felt like a wild goose chase trying to figure out how they work and how to build one. Thankfully, the YouTubers Zilipoper and Teslista555 had well documented videos detailing their builds of the circuit, and I relied heavily on those clips to figure out how to bring my circuit to an operating state. I would like to give a big thank you to them. Be sure to check out their channels as they have a BUNCH of cool high voltage vids!! Zilipoper: youtube.com/user/zilipoper Teslista555: youtube.com/user/teslista555
Furthermore, I'd like to thank Vidduley for providing key information on this type of circuit. I was ripping my hair out trying to find English literature on this circuit, but it turns out most of the documentation is in the Russian language. A big thank you to him for this as well as the other info I've used from him in past videos! Vidduley: youtube.com/channel/UCnSqwyD8RmO-nX1EF_UJXaw
I built my torch circuit using the soviet GU-5B triode vacuum tube that I scored on eBay, and I used a bunch of soviet surplus doorknob capacitors in the build as well. The PSU transformer was a used pull from an old flashlamp pumped laser, and I built the PSU voltage doubler using chains of 10A10 diodes potted in wax.
The output electrodes turned out to be both tricky and interesting in this project. As the device melted through copper, steel and many other materials, it was hard finding something that wouldn't turn to a puddle on the output, but luckily graphite held up well enough for fairly long term use. I then added salts like cesium and lithium chlorides to the electrodes, as well as metals like magnesium and zinc.
It was a very fun project, but also quite involved. The RF emissions had to be shielded so I built a large copper Faraday cage for the project. This took a bunch of time, but it's worth not being hunted down by local hams in the area.
I scored an engineering sample for a very powerful laser diode array recently and decided to jam it in a handheld housing. The extremely powerful laser diode array is rated for 95W of output power and is capable of more than that. At such extreme power in such a small package, this makes for what is likely the most powerful handheld laser in the world.
The laser diode array was probably made for use in high efficiency laser driven light sources like hybrid DLP projectors, and in fact these kinds of sources are likely to become used more and more often in the future. In fact the 2014 Nobel prize in physics was given for the blue LED which directly led to the blue laser diode, and both of these are used in some of the most efficient white light sources ever made.
That's not the only piece of Nobel Prize winning tech in this build though. In fact this project would not have been possible without the development of high energy density lithium batteries, which actually won the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry!
For the build I used an old radar gun that my friend scored from a junkyard, and removed the internals other than switches. I ground down a big chunk of aluminum to use as a heatsink, and bolted down the laser array using indium foil. For the drivers I used linear regulators that happen to be fairly efficient due to the relatively high voltages involved. The stock switch would have likely been yeeted if I used it to switch on the powerful circuit, so I rewired it so that a big power MOSFET handles the bulk of the power switching.
After building it, I tested it against several different materials and items, starting with common tricks used with handheld lasers (popping balloons, igniting cardboard, etc.) before moving up to some extreme demos like melting glass and cutting steel. The fact that a handheld laser can do this is unbelievable, and is only possible due to the groundbreaking research done by scientists and engineers over the years.
Obviously a laser like this requires wearing high OD laser goggles at all times when using it, as it is a whopping 200 times over the threshold of the highest danger ratings for laser. That being said, you don't have to get into record breaking territory before you need to wear goggles when using lasers. Even cheap $2 laser pointers bought online are often extremely dangerous as they usually turn out much stronger than advertised!!
The song during the heatsink montage is "Give" by Silent PartnerDangerous tattoo remover from eBay is a MILLION watt laserstyropyro2019-12-12 | This laser tattoo removal device from eBay is the most powerful laser I've shown on this channel! It is so powerful that even AIR ignites in the laser beam!
I was searching for a Nd:YAG laser cavity for a future project when I came across a bunch of tattoo removal devices on eBay. They claimed to contain a Nd:YAG laser but at a small fraction of the cost of buying the parts separately. Skeptical, I bought one anyway since I had the option to return it if it didn't live up to the seller's claims.
Much to my surprise my unit turned out to be INSANELY powerful, so strong that it can light the air on fire! The laser head is a flashlamp pumped, q-switched Nd:YAG laser with a removable KTP frequency doubling tip for the option of green light. My estimations yield a peak output power of about 30 million watts.
In the video, I start by testing the laser against various materials, including aluminum, tungsten, coins, acrylic, and rust. Since the laser can also ignite air, I used this as a benchmark and then estimated peak power with the methods of Gaussian optics.
After destroying a bunch of stuff, I use the laser to drive another laser in a dye laser setup. Using the organic dye rhodamine B, I was able to create a beautiful orange laser by blasting the dye with green photons.
Finally, I tried giving the laser the "overclocked" treatment but my modifications destroyed the laser in one shot. oofPlasma Play Button for 1M Subscribersstyropyro2019-08-29 | Start listening with a 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook plus two Audible Originals are free. Visit http://audible.com/styropyro or text styropyro to 500-500.
I just crossed the 1M subs mark here on YouTube! Amazingly I've gotten more than half of my subscribers in the last year alone. To top it off, YouTube sent me the coveted gold play button award and it is *very* shiny.
Following the tradition of other science YouTubers, I decided to celebrate by making a few of my own play buttons based on chemistry, lasers, and plasma. I also took a look back on the nearly 13 years I've been making videos for YouTube as well as the advances in laser technology we've seen in that time period.
The plasma play button was driven by my newly upgraded spark gap tesla coil. I originally built that tesla coil for the overclocked plasma globe project, but it had some issues that prevented it from operating at its full potential. I changed the primary pancake coil and adjusted the coupling to the secondary, as well as did an overhaul on the rotary spark gap to make it fire more consistently. I also rewired the power supply for a 240V split phase outlet to bring the power draw to around 5kW. The upgraded coil is INSANE and hits all of the walls of my Faraday cage. Unfortunately I toasted two of the MOTs in the PSU while filming, so I'm going to have to tear it apart again!
It's crazy how much has changed since I started making videos in 2006. I never expected to make so many videos or gain a following, it just happened I guess. Here's to many more years of crazy lasers and plasma!
Intro music: Rise - Ethan Meixsell Concierge - AlbisExtreme 2D Plasma Ball Experimentsstyropyro2019-07-26 | Get 75% off NordVPN! Only $2.99/mo, plus you get an additional month FREE at nordvpn.com/styropyro
What started as a simple desire for a brighter plasma plate got carried away and I ended up building a terrifying lightning machine of death.
So many people have asked me about the "lightning disk" that's seen in the background of many of my videos. The device is called luminglas and is essentially a 2D plasma globe. I thought it was pretty cool at first, but I soon realized that it needed some extreme mods to it to make it less boring.
I started with the easiest mod of them all by overvolting the driver of one of the plasma lights. It handled double the rated voltage like a champ but released its magic smoke when it took it higher.
Next I hooked it up to a desktop cockroft-walton voltage multiplier that's capable of huge DC voltages. Big thanks to Vidduley on YT as my multiplier is essentially a direct copy of his design. You should check him out, his knows his stuff when it comes to pulsed power/high voltage!! youtube.com/channel/UCnSqwyD8RmO-nX1EF_UJXaw
The extreme DC shattered the disk, which was expected since lighting the lamp with DC means charge must flow through the glass. With AC from old flyback transformers though, I was able to light up the lamp without destroying it, but the effect still wasn't what I was looking for.
I decided I needed to build a tesla coil to get the effects I wanted. I decided to go with a vacuum tube build as surplus soviet tubes are cheap and I wanted the sword like sparks typical of a VTTC.
For parts I used a GU-81M pentode as the switching element and a bunch of soviet doorknob capacitors for the tank, grid leak, and bypass capacitors. For a power supply I used two microwave oven transformers in a half wave voltage doubler setup and a third MOT (modified) to heat the cathode of the tube.
The results were impressive, but I found that sticking the plate on the coil prevented the coil from generating giant sparks. Trying to tune the coil with this dynamic topload was apparently impossible, especially since I can't just hook an oscilloscope up to the the coil/lamp configuration to determine it's electrical parameters. Maybe the magic in getting this configuration to work is something in the feedback/grid leak design, but I ended up build an adjustable spark gap mount for the coil to allow it to ring up and still light up the lamp.
The resulting fixture can remotely light up fluorescent tubes and light bulbs and do lots of other cool tricks. I love the sound of the 60Hz breakout too. It is certainly more exciting than the original product.Wireless Energy Transmission with Force Fields and Lasersstyropyro2019-06-24 | Using lasers and extreme electromagnetic fields I'm able to power up a bunch of stuff without the use of wires!
In this video I demonstrate a bunch of different methods of wireless energy transmission. I start by looking at early experiments of wireless energy transmission like what was done by Michael Faraday in the mid 1800s and then try them out myself. These experiments led to the development of the transformer, which is an incredibly common electrical component used today. It turns out that wireless cell phone chargers are based on this technology that's over 100 years old!
Next I look into higher frequency sources like that generated by a Tesla coil. For these experiments I break out my Tesla coil collection and wirelessly light up neon bulbs, plasma tubes, and fluorescent lights. I also test out an energy harvesting circuit and collect EM energy via a rectenna. These effects are still mainly described by capacitive coupling though, so they don't work over very far distances.
Next I look into microwave devices as a source for generating a collimated beam. It turns out that making a nice beam from microwave oven parts is impossible, but large microwave antennas can still be used to wirelessly power up drones or beam large amounts of power over long distances. In my experiments I use a "broken" microwave oven that still works with the door open to light up some light bulbs.
Still though, the best device yet for wireless energy transmission is the laser. There is nothing that can match the tight beam of a laser, and with tuned photovoltaics, a laser can be used to transmit energy over astronomical distances at relatively high efficiencies. In fact, our best shot at exploring nearby stars in the foreseeable future is with laser powered spacecraft. In the video I use a laser to power electronics via LEDs and solar cells.
Oh yeah, free energy is silly unless it obeys the laws of thermodynamics,Testing Illegal Blue Lasers from eBay (and making them even stronger)styropyro2019-05-17 | Download War Robots FOR FREE on your iOS/Android device and get an awesome starter pack! http://bit.ly/2VGNj2M
I bought a couple blue laser pointers on eBay. I received two laser death rays. Then I made them even stronger.
Normally I'm not interested in buying handheld lasers off of the internet as what I can make is usually more interesting. That being said there were some eBay listings for blue lasers pointers that caught my eye. Although the claimed output power was under 5mW (ebay's limit as well as the US federal limit) the pictures showed lasers that appeared to be very strong. Now importing a handheld laser stronger than 5mW is usually illegal here, but these listings explicitly stated the lasers had an output that was under the legal limit. Even so, I wanted to play it safe (legally at least) so I found US sellers/resellers of these "5mW" lasers.
The lasers turned out to be INCREDIBLY strong, HUNDREDS of times stronger than advertised. While this may seem like a good thing, a laser like this will blind you permanently the instant it hits you in the eye. Wearing proper eye protection is a must when dealing with these.
It's common for sellers to exaggerate the power of flashlights, cars, etc., so why would these sellers lie in the opposite direction about lasers? It turns out this is the only way they can get away with selling powerful lasers on eBay without blatantly breaking the rules. The bigger issue is that handheld lasers like this are federally restricted in most countries. This isn't a problem for say a seller in China shipping to the US, as our laws aren't relevant there. This a huge issue for all of these US resellers that are sending out powerful lasers by the thousand though, and the FDA very well may lay a smackdown at some point.
Obviously I have nothing against owning strong lasers, but trying to pass off a burning lasers as eye safe in order to make a few bucks is incredibly dangerous. I realize most people will have an idea of what they are getting into, but those out there that aren't aware of the extreme danger involved are going to lose an eye. You think I'm exaggerating but permanent eye injuries happen ALL THE TIME from the cheap death rays bought online. If you really want a powerful laser, read up on lasers and laser eye safety and start small before working your way up to a big laser.100% Invisible IR death ray laser!styropyro2019-02-22 | Support My Channel! Download Free ⚔️ Vikings War Of Clans Here ➤ IOS: bit.ly/2GLY9Mp ➤ Android: bit.ly/2GxQbXI And Get 200 💰 Gold, And a 🏥 Protective Shield for FREE Join my Vikings clan under my nickname: styropyro1
I built a massive portable laser with a beam that's completely invisible. What could possibly go wrong?
I've built tons of crazy laser devices over the years but until now I had never built a giant IR laser. I decided my life would be better if I built a massive portable IR death ray and then use it on an IR camera.
My first attempt at building the laser started by tearing down a green laser pointer from eBay. Inside is an infrared laser diode that's used to pump a crystal of neodymium doped orthovandate which then feeds into a frequency doubling KTP crystal to make green light. This process is not very efficient so a powerful IR laser diode must be used. The final product looks awesome on the IR camera and can definitely burn stuff, but I wanted something much more powerful.
I went on eBay and started shopping for huge fiber coupled IR laser diode arrays. The problem is that most of these for sale used online are actually dead, so it took some careful searching to choose one with a lower chance of being dead. The unit I bought is 25W at 975nm and worked flawlessly.
Coming up with a driver for the thing is not as easy as buying an off the shelf circuit as the laser diode takes a whopping 40A at just 2V. To make matters worse, the driver needs tight regulation and protection from ESD so it doesn't get toasted. Luckily I saw a video by YouTuber Marco Reps of him building the exact driver that I needed! I built a driver based on his schematic (with some minor mods) and it worked flawlessly, so a big thank you to him. Marco Reps channel: youtube.com/user/reppesis/featured
For the telescope collimator, I used fused silica lenses from Esco Optics. I needed material that would work in the shortwave IR spectrum as well as handle the high power laser light without shattering. These lenses ended up working perfect for what I needed.
The final laser is amazing. The beam looks amazing on the infrared "night vision" camera. I can use it to trigger a giant high voltage spark gap, as well as discharge strontium aluminate glow powder. Plus it is really good at lighting things on fire.
One of the biggest issues is that the laser is completely invisible. This makes it incredibly hard to aim and know where it's pointing. I should make a helmet that feeds the output of an IR camera to a screen in front of my eyes as that would make messing with IR lasers much easier.
Big thank you to my sponsor Vikings:War of Clans for this video. I am about to move into a new shop that has much better insulation, and even better, a MUCH bigger electrical power hookup. This setup is not cheap though, so I will be accepting sponsors from now on. The extra funding is going to make some KILLER projects though, so stay tuned!!Crazy eBay green laser pointer mod. 1mW to 1400mW++styropyro2018-12-11 | What started as a simple desire for a brighter laser pointer got carried away and I ended up building the brightest laser pointer in the world.
I would love to give a big thank you to all my Patreon supporters. I would not continue to make videos if it weren’t for your generous support. I have yet to take a paid sponsorship and rely totally on donations and overlay ads to support these projects.
I bought some green laser pointers on eBay recently and I have to say I was pretty disappointed with the lasers. Half of the laser pointers didn’t even turn on, and the ones that did work were very dim and covered in dents. I decided I should try opening them up and try to make them stronger.
I started with the classic “pot mod” by cranking up the potentiometer on the driver. It made the laser brighter but it still couldn’t burn stuff. I scrapped the driver and hooked it directly to my variable PSU but that killed the laser almost immediately. I realized that I needed cutting edge laser technology in order to satisfy my extreme desires.
I settled on using the Nichia NDG7475 laser diode as that is the brightest laser pointer out there that is still small enough to be jammed into a laser pointer housing. I hooked it up to a high efficiency buck converter for current regulation. I used a MOSFET as the main switching component as the stock switch in the laser pointer would not have handled the high current demands on the laser diode. I also used high drain 10440 li-ion batteries as the thought of 2 AAA batteries powering this new circuit is laughable.
The modded laser pointer is awesome. In fact it is probably the brightest laser pointer in the entire world if your definition of a laser pointer is a laser that fits in a 2x AAA host. I test out its burning capabilities by pointing the laser at a bunch of stuff.
Sometimes I don’t even know why I build crazy stuff like this.
Song towards end of vid: town of 24 bars - Unicorn HeadsDIY Overclocked Plasma Globe. 2500V to a MILLION voltsstyropyro2018-11-03 | What started as a simple desire for a brighter plasma globe got carried away and I ended up building a million volt lightning tower of death.
I would love to give a big thank you to all my Patreon supporters. I would not continue to make videos if it weren’t for your generous support. I have yet to take a paid sponsorship and rely totally on donations and overlay ads to support these projects.
I found a good deal for some plasma globes on eBay so I went ahead and bought some. Sure they were interesting, but I quickly realized I needed something much more powerful. After trying the aluminum foil arc trick, I got bored and took it apart. I tried various modifications to the driver, including a MOSFET based interrupter and a ZVS flyback transformer circuit. I even tried using some way overdriven car ignition coils but still was not satisfied.
I decided I needed to build a multi-kilowatt tesla coil in order to properly drive the thing. I mean it was Nikola Tesla that invented the plasma globe, so this was the only method that would give his invention justice. I used a quad MOT, asynchronous rotary spark gap based topology. I needed 10 microwave ovens to build the fully ballasted power supply, and most of the other stuff I found at the hardware store. I did need to order capacitors and a secondary coil online.
The resulting plasma globe was satisfactory. Giant arcs shoot directly out of the glass. Other plasma globes and light bulbs in the vicinity light up due to the extreme electromagnetic field produced. Plus, most importantly, it can light things on fire. Today I have done something good, and I will sleep well tonight. Tomorrow though, and it’s on the next project…
Song during microwave teardown is Web Weaver's Dance by Asher Fulero.I built a Laser Telescope Blaster!!styropyro2018-08-28 | A high powered laser + a DIY reverse telescope makes a device that burns things much further away than any of my other laser creations!
In the video I start by going over the reasons of why my previous laser blasters couldn't burn things from far away. In order to do long distance burning, I needed something with higher beam quality/smaller emitter size. I settled on a 1W 405nm laser diode. It is significantly less powerful than my 200W laser bazooka, but the high quality beam it makes can travel much straighter than those huge diode arrays.
A single spatial mode laser diode wasn't enough though. I built a beam expander (just a Galilean telescope in reverse) to widen the beam leaving the aperture so it could stay tighter over a distance. It was cool getting to use old technology on a device like this.
For the burning demos I started with some balloons. I found that the laser had to be very stable in order to pop balloons from a distance. I explain in the video that unlike a real ghunn, the laser needs time for the target to accumulate energy so it heats up significantly. With a tripod I was able to pull off some long distance balloon pops, but it became very difficult past 100ft. The most distant shot I made was from about 150ft.
For the boomy targets, I used a mix of several chemicals that don't don't like to be together, added charcoal to make it dark for laser absorption, and bound it into a puck with red gum.
Big thank you to Esco Optics for supplying the lenses used on the telescopes! escooptics.comI recently did a shoot with VICE Motherboard...styropyro2018-08-21 | Back in June a couple guys from VICE Motherboard came over to shoot an interview and play with lasers, chemicals, and electricity.
I had a bunch of fun shooting the video with VICE and I'm very happy with how it turned out.
Stay tuned for more videos! I have several in the works...Mysterious chemical changes color depending on perspectivestyropyro2018-08-08 | Here is a crazy chemical that changes color depending on how it's viewed! I was first introduced to the effect when a friend showed me a hard to believe video that was posted by reddit user budget_cuts (thanks Zach for the tip!). In the video he shows a chemical that dramatically changes color depending on the perspective. He didn't say what chemical was used in the video, but I had to witness this effect in person, so I started reading and experimenting to try figuring it out.
The crazy effect is mainly due to a phenomenon called dichromatism that shows up in some substances where the color (hue) changes depending on the thickness or concentration of the solution. Surprisingly it wasn't untill 2007 that this effect was described in comprehensive scientific detail. (paper on the effect link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00114-007-0272-9 )
In this video I explain why this laser gun is something of fiction. I first try to decode the laser's wavelength, and then use the Rayleigh Criterion to derive a best case scenario of what the beam will look like at 800m. Then using the Stefan-Boltzmann law, I calculate the minimum power necessary to ignite clothes on fire. It becomes clear that a laser gun capable of that kind of destruction would require a giant pile of Li-ion batteries to operate, let alone the plethora of other issues that would arise with a multi kilowatt laser in a 3kg device.Amazing White Laser Experiments!!!styropyro2018-05-16 | Laser р0rn!! Here I build a full color RGB white laser, as well as experiment with the beam using prisms and mirrors.
In this video I build a full color RGB laser using red, green, and blue lasers. I use an analog driver based on the LM317, and combine the beams using an X-cube. The resulting laser can make white, yellow, aqua, magenta, purple and many other colors. The white laser beam can then be split back up with prisms and diffraction gratings, as I show in the video. I then build a white laser based on just two colors, yellow and cyan, and then in the end of the video I show some TRIPPY effects with a laser time tunnel.
Music: "Renegade Jubilee" by The Whole OtherUPDATE: Ive been banned for two weeks. Read the description of this vidstyropyro2018-03-17 | Go here for updates: youtu.be/j6vFXPzLGMMThis Evil Chemical Reacts with Nearly Anythingstyropyro2018-03-08 | Manganese Heptoxide is a molecule that does not like to exist, and looks for any reason to decompose violently. In this video I feed a bunch of different stuff to this demon molecule.
In this video I synthesize some manganese VII oxide from concentrated sulfuric acid and potassium permanganate. This compound is an incredibly powerful oxidizer that will eat up about anything organic. I test the chemical's reaction against wood, styrofoam, sugar, acetone, methanol, potato chips, charcoal, and even a high powered laser beam. Plus I try the "lightning in a test tube" experiment, which is also a demonstration of the potent manganese heptoxide. In fact I first saw that demo performed by nurdrage: youtube.com/watch?v=Nyzlt-dVgWQ
This actually isn't my first video on the subject. I made a video about this in 2010, but I wanted to revisit the subject as I had more tests in mind. Plus since then I've received a chemistry degree so I'm able to go deeper into the theory behind the experiment. youtube.com/watch?v=qQ4BlaqkikQ
Stay tuned for more videos! I'm almost finished with the video on the laser sniper rifle.Can you go blind watching laser videos on YouTube???styropyro2018-02-25 | Watch with one eye closed, because it's time to answer one of my favorite questions that I get here on YouTube.
In this video I answer whether or not it's safe to watch laser videos on YouTube without safety protection. I actually get this question a lot. I'm glad I could finally address it.
When I originally broke out the camera yesterday...I was shooting footage for a video on wireless energy transmission with lasers. Somehow, it devolved into this...See me in San Francisco! + project updates, styropyro vines, and vote on my next project!styropyro2018-01-20 | Just received a strike from YT and now I'm in danger of being banned. :O more to follow...
I'm going to be at Photonics West on January 31st at booth 4244 with Esco Optics. If you are going to the conference, stop by the booth!
As for the projects, I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys find most interesting! The laser "sniper" rifle project uses a reverse telescope to mitigate beam divergence for long distance burning. The chemical flashlight would be attempt #2 of using lasers to pump chemicals to make bright light, and I'd get rid of solution based chemicals in the new design. The orange dye laser is a new twist on an old design for a pretty orange laser. And last but not least the visualizer of vacuum fluctuations uses a nonlinear optical process to demonstrate eerie properties of the universe, like how time is uncertain and that the vacuum itself contains energy.
I don't talk about my recent strike in this video as I found out about it after I had recorded everything. Any more potential strikes and I get a temp ban, so I threw this video together as fast as possible so my fans at the PW conference know I'll be there. More updates to come on that...but I can see the writing on the wall and the end of my channel may not be far in the future.
Oh yeah, the judo footage was from a recent tournament I competed in, and it was my first time competing under the judo rule set. Combat sports are awesome and they work your mind as well as your body. The strategy is much deeper than most of your traditional sports, and because of this you have people excelling in sports like judo, jiu jitsu, and MMA that did not do well in other sports growing up.DIY Laser Made from Thin Air!!styropyro2018-01-05 | It turns out that regular old air makes a laser beam when you blast it with high voltage! In this video I demonstrate one of these lasers as well as talk about how it works.
The laser that I built in this video is an example of a TEA laser, where diatomic nitrogen is the lasing medium. There have been plans for DIY TEA lasers around since the 1970s, so I am definitely not the first one to do this!
Here is a great resource for building a nitrogen TEA laser, and this was the first resource I read when I wanted to build my own: http://technology.niagarac.on.ca/people/mcsele/lasers/LasersTEA.htm (this guy also has tons of other cool info on lasers, and is an expert on DIY lasers of all different kinds)
The capacitors were made with aluminum foil and polyethylene sheeting. The dielectric film can be another material than polyethylene, and works best when it is roughly 3 to 6 mil thick. In my design I keep the top plate at ground potential and the bottom at high voltage, as this decreases shock hazard.
The charging circuit is a flyback transformer (ripped from an old CRT TV) hooked up to an off the shelf ZVS (zero voltage switching) driver. This is kinda overkill, but it allows it to run at fairly fast repetition rates.Giant 13kJ RUBY LASER CANNON! Test Shots and Overview!!styropyro2017-12-14 | The massive pulsed ruby laser is complete! In this video I'm feeding the flashlamp about 13kJ, which is a ton of electrical energy. In fact, this is probably the strongest ruby laser on YouTube. More destruction to come soon!
BIG thank you to Esco Optics for making me the mirrors for the laser. It turns out that finding mirrors that don't vaporize in a massive laser cavity like this is difficult, but coming up with the right coating was no problem for the Esco engineers. escooptics.com
In this video I quickly go over the construction of this laser, and then do a few test shots with some plastic, a razor blade, and a glass bottle. The peak output power on this laser is around 50kW.
The power supply uses a variac for adjustable voltage and feeds that into a pair of matched microwave oven transformers, From there the output is fed into a homemade Cockroft-Walton voltage multiplier, which is capable of up to 20kV at a dangerously high current. That feeds into the capacitor bank, and then the laser can be fired using a trigger based on a car ignition coil and 555/MOSFET combo.Crazy 1933 chemical recipes PART 2! solid gasoline, thermite tracers, and more!styropyro2017-12-11 | You guys requested it, and here it is! If you haven't seen the first one, you should watch it here!
This 1933 chemical formulary is full of gems, and I'll keep making videos about it if you guys watch them!Dangerous Christmas Laser Show Upgrade - 1000x Strongerstyropyro2017-11-29 | Ever see those Christmas light show things at the store and think they would be a lot cooler if they were 1000 times stronger? I did at least, so I made it happen.
In this video I tear down a cheap laser projector that I bought at Farm and Fleet, and do a bunch of mods to it so I could jam in a 5W blue laser diode. The puny little power supply couldn't handle the huge laser, so I had to make a new driver from scratch. Plus, the original optics melted almost immediately, so I had to upgrade them so they wouldn't explode after being hit with 1000x their rated power.
More videos coming soon! In the near future I'm planning on doing videos on wireless energy transmission with lasers, testing more crazy recipes from the chemical formulary, as well as some other stuff. Stay tuned!
Wow, I'm about to cross the 100,000,000 view mark...Me ranting on the removal of my laser bazooka video (edit: got it back!!)styropyro2017-11-09 | UPDATE: Got the vid back! Yay!
My highest viewed video just got flagged and hidden from public viewing!! AHH! To top it off, it didn't get removed for safety reasons, it got removed for being misleading! Am I not allowed to call the strongest portable laser built by a hobbyist a "laser bazooka"???
I was worried about my channel after the recent flags on Cody's Lab, who as you probably know makes AMAZING science videos. Turns out I had already been quietly flagged on my most popular video. This is just after I appealed (and won) a claim on my most recent upload, youtube.com/watch?v=7ddpV8R6pFo
I would love to hear thoughts from my fans on what I should do if this keeps happening. After 11 years of making videos I fear the end of my channel could be approaching. This seems like the prime time for other video sites to start popping up...Testing CRAZY Recipes from a 1933 Chemical Formulary Bookstyropyro2017-10-31 | Have a cold? Inhale some chloroform and ether. Got dirty pennies? Clean them with a 2000 lethal dozes of cyanide.
This book would be called "chemistry life hacks" if it were written today. That being said, the flagrant use of neurotoxins, unstable explosive compounds, and heavy metals means it probably wouldn't make it on the bookstore shelves.
There are actually a lot of good recipes in here, other than the scary toxins of course. This book would have been extremely useful to someone who knew a little chemistry in the 30s and wanted to save money and make stuff at home. I just picked out some of the more ridiculous formulas and tested them in this video.Levitating DIAMONDS with a laser beam!! (demonstration of Nobel Prize in Physics 2018)styropyro2017-10-22 | Real life Star Trek tractor beam! Turns out it is possible to levitate tiny diamonds with a laser beam!!
Edit: The optical tweezers phenomenon actually won the nobel prize in physics in 2018, along with techniques in ultrafast laser pulse generation.
But seriously, that eBay laser that was sold to you as 5mW is likely MUCH stronger. Now obviously I love high powered lasers, but I don't like when something that is sold as "eye safe" is actually a very dangerous laser.
other social media sillyness: instagram: instagram.com/styro.drake patreon: patreon.com/styropyrostyropyro channel trailerstyropyro2017-10-12 | I enjoy the simple things in life: electricity, fire, and high powered lasers.
Music by "RokZRoom" of freesound.orgfreesound.org/people/RokZRooM/sounds/344778/#Overclocked Bug Zapper. 2750V to 50000V++styropyro2017-10-10 | What started as a simple desire for a little more power in my bug zapper got carried away and I ended up building a racket of death.
Don't play with high voltage if you don't know what you are doing. Even if you DO know what you are doing, things can go wrong so always keep one hand behind your back.. XD
3 videos in a week. How's that, loyal subscribers? Hopefully the next vid won't take a year lolHow hot is a 5W Laser?styropyro2017-10-08 | Is it possible to measure the temperature of a giant laser beam?? By blowing up a few things with huge lasers, as well as a little math, I'll give you the answer!
In this video I address one of my most asked questions, "how hot is that laser beam?" Truthfully, that question is bad and you should feel bad for asking (jk) but it brings up a good point on the similarities and differences between temperature, energy, and power. I start by sacrificing a thermometer to the 5W laser, and then burn things of higher and higher melting/combustion temps. Finally, the white hot glow on carbonized wood suggests peak temps over thousands of degrees.
More videos to come soon! Thank you to all of my subscribers (and especially patreon contributors) for sticking around even after I was gone for a year. I'm going to try making up for that with a video marathon!!The Cancer Ray - Worlds First Ever UV Laser Pointer!!styropyro2017-10-06 | Just finished building the first ever ultraviolet laser pointer! This is a project I've been wanting to do for at least 5 years, but until a couple weeks ago the cheapest source for a UV laser diode was $4300 from ThorLabs. I got super lucky and picked up a surplus part on ebay for $80 that contained a true UV laser diode.
In this video I start by tearing down the mystery part and showing all of the innards. Then I test the diode by hooking it up to some homemade circuitry, and find a happy spot to drive the laser. Finally I build it into a laser pointer, and then of course do some cool tricks and experiments with it.
The "Cancer Ray" name is meant to be funny, because it surely won't give you immediate cancer if you get hit by the beam. That being said this is true UVA radiation, which is known to cause detrimental effects with long term exposure, Even though this is not ionizing radiation, that high photon energy has the ability to excite electrons into high energy molecular orbitals, from which chemical reactions can be initiated. When that happens in DNA, bad things happen!!
It is good to end my hiatus, and you will see more vids from me soon.Terrifying Pulsed Laser Power Supply vs. Household Itemsstyropyro2016-11-17 | Here I take household items and blow them up with a killer 10kJ capacitor bank. The peak powers from this bank are in the megawatts, so dumping all that power through stuff gives interesting effects. This insane power supply is what will be used to power my ruby laser. Lethal is an understatement for this bank, and will kill you before you hit the floor if you touch it.
The light bulb that I hit was vaporized, and there was no trace of that thing afterwards! The CD was the brightest of the explosions, due to the aluminum superheating and reacting with oxygen in the air.
I shattered one of my flashlamps, so that has put me on hold for the ruby laser. I order two to replace it so I can increase the energy a bit more. I'm gonna use the high current rated electrodes from my broken lamp to build a triggered spark gap so I can do other interesting high voltage experimeRust Removing Laser!!styropyro2016-07-11 | How do rust removing lasers work?? We've all seen the mesmerizing videos of giant lasers leaving rusty equipment sparkly clean, so today I broke out my strongest pulsed laser to demonstrate this awesome effect!
PATREON: patreon.com/styropyroBuilding a GIANT Laser Pumped Chemical Flashlight - July 9styropyro2016-07-09 | Over the past few days I've been working on a world record attempt to build the brightest single bulb flashlight in the world. This video goes into detail the design process and troubleshooting of trying to build the light. I'm taking a break from it today but will start working on it again soon. My first step will be to circulate the dye solution through the pumping cavity to avoid both heat buildup and to flush out any parasitic metastable triplet states in the fluorescein. Stay tuned! Other videos to follow in the near future...
So I'm in the need of an oscilloscope that records down to nanosecond timescales for both this project and my explosive ruby laser project. Any suggestions from my viewers???My Homebuilt 200W LASER BAZOOKA!!!!!styropyro2016-06-29 | I finally finished the 200W laser gun!! 'This monster laser was built from scrap metal and a pile of broken "hybrid" DLP projectors, and runs on a stack of lithium polymer batteries.
PATREON: patreon.com/styropyro The power consumption is nearly a kilowatt, which is around what it takes to run a microwave oven!!
There are more crazy projects on the way, so stay tuned!! I may even try some optical pumping with this laser...
Thanks to DTR for providing the knife edgers that I used on the gun! He is also one of my main suppliers for laser diodes. sites.google.com/site/dtrlpfMy Homemade Laser Taser Pistol with pulsed YAG laser and High Voltage Head!!!styropyro2016-06-26 | This is what happens when you combine thrift store electronics with military surplus parts!
The heart of this bad boy is a pulsed Nd:YAG laser from an old Isreali military rangefinder, which is pumped by a flashlamp and has peak powers of several thousand watts (even though only for a short time). I also added a high voltage generator to make it a little bit scarier.
I should mention that a project like this should NOT be attempted at home! The funny thing is that the taser unit of the gun wouldn't kill me if I got hit (which I have..) but the capacitor bank for the pulsed laser could easily stop my heart. High voltage is not to be messed with by the inexperienced tinkerer, and attempting HV projects at home without much electronics experience is a good way to end up dead on the floor.
On a lighter note, be on the lookout for more vids! The laser bazooka was put on the backburner for a bit due to some issues with my diode banks, but the final product is in sight!
You should also be watching out for my giant ruby lasers that I'll get built before long, as well as some crazy pyro and science vids.
Instagram: instagram.com/styro.drakeExotic Thermitesstyropyro2016-06-15 | In this video I mix up some of the hotter and faster burning versions of thermite, as well as some unique ones that use reactive alkali metals. I also go into the chemistry a bit to put some numbers behind the energy and reactivity of the various thermites.
Don't try any of this at home!
Some more notes on the thermites I used in the vid: My thermites all burned fairly quickly because I used finely powdered chemicals. If I would have used coarser particle size, the mix would burn slower and I may have been able to recover some more of the metals generated.
It was hard to capture the brightness of the reactions in this video. Thermites generally release large amounts of UV due to the very high flame temps, and also extreme amounts of white light. Never stare directly at burning thermite!
Feel free to comment with suggestions for future videos! I like to hear from my viewers! :)
EDIT: I see that some people are confused on why I say that lithium is the king of reactivity when compared to the other alkali metals. Here is the explanation I typed up for a viewer:
I was hoping somebody would bring this up because it deals with a very important concept in chemistry! If you throw each of the alkali metals in water, it is clear that lithium reacts the slowest of the group. Let's compare lithium and sodium as a specific example. If you do the thermo calculations for throwing each into water, you see that lithium releases more energy than sodium, both by mass AND by mole! Furthermore, Gibbs free energy change is more negative for LiOH formation than NaOH, in both the aqueous and solid phases. Because ∆G=-RTlnK, this suggests Li reacts more so with water than sodium.
So why the hell does sodium clearly react more violently with water? It turns out that a reaction's energy release does not directly imply anything about how fast that reaction will occur, and this is an extremely important rule in the nature of chemicals. There are plenty of factors that play a role here. Sodium has a lower melting point than lithium, so it can melt on water and increase surface area for reaction. Furthermore, sodium has a lower ionization energy, which makes it easier for the reaction with water to initiate.Destroying Stuff with MASSIVE 50W Blue Laser Array!!!styropyro2016-04-13 | My buddy and I are working on building a ~200W laser rifle, which will use 4 50W blue laser diode banks as the heart of the gun. In this video, we fire up just one of these bricks, and proceed to light a bunch of stuff on fire!!Thick Beam 5W Red Laser Fun + Laser Cannon Updatesstyropyro2016-03-23 | Here I show off my 5W 650nm laser that I built a while ago, and then burn myself with it. :p I also give some updates on my future BIG laser projects!!
For the record, I shot this video on my spring break, and forgot my soldering iron at my college apartment. :( I could have just bought another one, but instead of making the drive I decided to go caveman style. :D
Thanks to Dr. Miller for the diode!!Real Burning HOMEMADE LIGHTSABER!!! styropyro’s versionstyropyro2015-12-22 | I’ve seen a few videos circulating the internet regarding homemade lightsabers, where one of the coolest designs I saw utilized a mini flamethrower. I figured I better show a video of my homebuilt version of the lightsaber…where my design uses a MASSIVE 7W blue laser. :D
In terms of building a working lightsaber, the two main limiting factors are beam confinement and high energy density storage. With the amazing Li-Ion batteries that the scientists/engineers have developed, stupidly powerful handheld lasers can be built, just like this one here. The issue then becomes confinement, which doesn’t look possible any time soon with a device like this. Oh well, my attempt is still bright and light things on fire!!
My device uses a Nichia GaN laser diode, which was overdriven to 7W of output by running it at 4.6A with a couple high efficiency buck drivers in parallel. An anti-reflective coated glass lens focuses the beam, and the whole device is powered by two unprotected 18650 batteries in series.
Upcoming videos are gonna be awesome…so watch out! Look for a ~150W laser bazooka, and potentially, a pulsed laser power by explosives!!!