Question: What is the effect on a light bulb being powered wirelessly by a tesla coil if the spark gap is

bigger or smaller?

Tesla coil

Research:

Smarter everyday lightning gun the primary coil has VERY high voltage and amperage; it could kill you
if you touch it

Part of a tesla coil on wiki the primary coil is the part that looks like big metal rings near the base of the
tesla coil

The Slo-mo guys: how the tesla coil works It comes in short bursts of power, not constantly.

TESLA COIL INFORMATION LINK A transformer’s voltage is varied by rotating its secondary ring to the
primary

Transformers are dipped in oil for cooling and insulation, and are designed to stand frequent short circ

Extremely detailed description of each part of a tesla coil

Rationale: This information could be useful so we could test higher or lower levels of resonance. We
could also find the best way to power up houses. It could also be useful for knowing how far the spark
gap can go and how much zap that is, which may be useful later. This is a very helpful experiment. FOR
THE SAKE OF SCIENCE!!!

Hypothesis: If the spark gap size of a fluorescent bulb is 1mm, 3 mm, 5mm, 7mm, and 8mm, then the
fluorescent bulb will light up from farther when the spark gap is bigger because the spark will have
longer to charge giving producing bigger shock waves.

GAP SIZE

My supplies: tesla coil, fluorescent bulb, scientists, pencil, paper,

 Gap size: Small Medium Large
Brightness: dim Bright Very bright

My Plan:

1. Set up tesla coil, give dry run

2. Cover up the spark gap
3. Turn lights off
4. Hold the fluorescent light bulb
5. Walk closer to the tesla coil until the bulb lights up
6. Stay still
7. Turn lights on
8. Measure how far away you were
9. Record our data
10. Repeat with higher or lower voltage

The results: (usually a picture or a graph)

Gap 3mm 5mm 7mm 8mm 1mm

Size
Distanc 300 mm 470mm 910mm 1090mm 190mm
e

Our Conclusion:

Looking at our results, our original hypothesis was “If the spark gap size of a fluorescent bulb is 1mm, 3
mm, 5mm, 7mm, and 8mm, then the fluorescent bulb will light up from farther when the spark gap is
bigger because the spark will have longer to charge giving producing bigger shock waves.” was correct.
One way we know it is right is because we saw the bulb light up from farther when the gap size was
bigger with our own eyes. We think this happened because the electricity had a longer jump, powering
up more. Another interesting thing that happened was that the bulb got warmer the longer Amiya held
the bulb. I think this was because the electricity heated up the bulb when they touched. In conclusion, it
turns out that the bigger the spark gap is, the farther away it lights up from.