Kathy Loves Physics & History | How Does a Tesla Coil Work? A Historical Deep Dive @Kathy_Loves_Physics | Uploaded April 2018 | Updated October 2024, 5 days ago.
How does a Tesla coil work? Take a wild journey through time from the invention of the electromagnet, through a shocked Irish priest and the discovery of radio waves to Tesla's dramatic displays! Check it out!

Timeline:
1800 Volta invents the battery: youtu.be/f6wJfx0VYRY
1820 Oersted discovers that current creates a magnetic force: youtu.be/2yawV5ekyN0
1826: Sturgeon creates the electromagnet: youtu.be/DbGrHMTlyjM
1831: Faraday discovers induction: youtu.be/MpjoGC-Prks
1836: Reverend Callan shocks himself with coils
1853 Fizau added a Leyden jar to the circuit
1866: Hertz used induction coils to create Radio waves: youtu.be/E46ZU2rsupA
1889: Tesla heard of Hertz's waves
1891: Tesla patented his Tesla coil

Acknowledgments:

The lovely modern tesla coil movie comes with permission from Greg at hotstreamer.deanostoybox.com/greg/frames.htm He has some great advice if you are crazy enough to try to make some of these machines yourself.

The Tesla photographs are modified from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#/media/File:Nikola_Tesla,_with_his_equipment_Wellcome_M0014782.jpg

The schematic of the tesla coil was modified from: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tesla_coil_4.svg

And, as usual, the music is from the lovely and talented Kim Nalley