TOPIC : Tesla Coil

Name - DIKSHA CHOPRA

Class - 12 B
Roll. NO. - 19
 DECLARATION BY THE STUDENT

I, Diksha Chopra hereby declare that the project report entitled

“Tesla Coil” written and submitted by me to is my original work
and interpretations drawn there are based on material collected
myself.

The findings in this report are based on the data collected by me

during the course of the project.

Finally, I am thankful to Ms.Nidhi Garg, our Physics Teacher and

for the valuable guidance in my project work.

Diksha Chopra
12 B
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the accomplishment of this project successfully, many

people have best owned upon me their blessings and the heart
pledged support, I thank all the people who have been concerned
with this project.

Primarily I would thank God for being able to complete this

project with success. Then I would thank my Physics teacher Ms
Nidhi Garg, whose valuable guidance has been the one that helped
me patch this project and make it full proof success. Her
suggestions and instructions have served as the major contributor
towards the completion of the project.

Then I would like to thank my parents and friends who have

helped me with their valuable suggestions and guidance has been
very helpful in various phases of the completion of the project.

Last but not the least I would like to thank my classmates

who have helped me a lot for completing this project.

Diksha Chopra
12 B
 PREFACE ~1
INTRODUCTION ~2
o WORKING PRINCIPLE

• MATERIALS AND METHODS ~6

o APPARATUS
o CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
o METHOD

• RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ~ 15

o RESULT
o ADVANTAGES
o DISADVANTAGES
o APPLICATIONS

• SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ~ 21

• BIBLIOGRAPHY ~ 22
In 1891, inventor Nikola Tesla created the first system to wirelessly
transmit electricity known as the Tesla coil. Tesla was dreaming of
spreading wireless electricity across the world through the invention.
The Tesla coil functions through the principle of electromagnetic
induction in which a conductor is placed in a changing magnetic field
and produces voltage across the conductor.

The invention by Tesla is one of the most important

inventions in the history of physics, which later pushed away
due to its disadvantages, though having various advantages.

Miniature forms of these Tesla Coils are made as projects for

study with the help of locally available materials such as coil,
wire, battery, etc.

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 A mini Tesla coil is a miniature version of the Tesla coil which is an
electrical resonant transformer circuit designed by inventor Nikola
Tesla in 1891.It is used to produce high-voltage, low-current, high
frequency alternating-current electricity. Nikola Tesla put forward a
possible way of transmission of electricity wirelessly through air.
Tesla Coils or resonant transformers of high frequency and high
potential have been used in many commercial applications.Although
not all commercial applications for Tesla coils are still in use for some
historical and modern day applications including :

o Spark Gap Radio Transmittors

o Induction and dielectric heating
o Induction Coils
o Medical X-Ray devices
o Quack medical devices
o Ozone generators

The first system that could wirelessly transmit electricity, the Tesla
coil was a truly revolutionary invention. Early radio antennas and
telegraphy used the invention, but variations of the coil can also do
things that are just plain cool — like shoot lightning bolts, send electric
currents through the body and create electron winds.
The concept behind the coil is actually fairly simple and makes use
of electromagnetic force and resonance.
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
itself must be able to withstand the massive charge and huge surges of
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

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squeezing out a soaked 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

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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 resulting high-frequency voltage can illuminate fluorescent
bulbs several feet away with no electrical wire connection.

Early radio antennas and telegraphs used the technology and

although the Tesla coil is not widely used today, the revolutionary
invention introduced and demonstrated the wireless application of
electricity. By building your own Tesla coil, you will be able to produce
an oscillating radio frequency to generate a high enough voltage to
illuminate a light bulb all by itself.

Figure 1: A mini Tesla Coil lighting a CFL lamp

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 WORKING PRINCILPLE

• Faraday’s Law of Magnetic Induction :

“The induced electromotive force in any closed circuit is equal to the
negative of the time rate of change of the magnetic flux enclosed by the
circuit.”
Which means that,when a conductor is placed under a varying
magnetic field, a small current will be induced inside the conductor. For
a Tesla coil, this conductor will be called as the secondary coil and the
varying magnetic field will be produced by the primary coil by passing
an oscillating current through the primary coil.
• Magnetic Flux : It is the number of magnetic field lines passing through
a closed surface such as the conducting coil.

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• The power of the Tesla coil lies in a process called
electromagnetic induction, i.e., a changing magnetic field
creates an electric potential that compels current to flow.
• Conversely, flowing electric current generates a magnetic field.
When electricity flows through a wound up coil of wire, it
generates a magnetic field that fills the area around the coil in a
particular pattern, shown with lines below:

Figure 2 : Magnetic Field around the coil

• When huge amount of energy is transmitted through the coil,

the magnetic field is exploited resulting in the release of electric
power.

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 Figure 3: Transmission of Electricity thorugh the coil

• Electrical current is the flow of electrons, while the difference in

electric potential (voltage) between two places is what pushes
that current. Current is like water, and voltage is like a hill. A large
voltage is a steep hill, down which a stream of electrons will flow.
A small voltage is like a near-flat plain with almost no water flow.

• The electric potential (“hill”) generated in a coil of wire by a

magnetic field through its center increases with the number of
turns of wire. A changing magnetic field within a coil of 50 turns
will generate ten times the voltage of a coil of just five turns.
(However, less current can actually flow through the higher
potential, to conserve energy.)

• With the release of electric power, current is produced and a

lamp brought near can be lighten up.

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APPARATUS
➢Resistor
• A resistor is a component that opposes a flowing current.
Every conductor has a specific resistance, if one applies a
voltage or potential difference V at the terminals of the
resistor, then the current I passing through is given by Ohm’s
Law.
• Here, a resistor of resistance 27k is used .27k is a high
resistance which is equal to 27000 ohms which results in less
current hence producing less heat which will be safe for the
circuit.
I = V/ R

Figure 4 : A Resistor

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➢ Transistor

• The transistor helps to make the frequency of AC equal to resonant

frequency to
the coil by a feedback mechanism. You need not have to manually 'tune'
the primary and secondary coil it is the transistor that 'auto tunes' the
mini tesla.

• A high current high frequency transistor like 2N2222 is used to

supply current through the primary coil.

Figure 5 : A 2N2222A Transistor

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 ➢ Copper Wire
• Enameled copper wire or magnetic wire is coated with a thin layer of
insulation. It is used in transformers, motors, speakers, almost all
the electrical appliances. Some require tight coils of the wire.

• An aluminium wire must have 1.6 times the cross sectional area as
a copper wire to achieve comparable DC resistance.

• Due to this, a copper wire is used to improve the energy efficiency in

appliances. Here copper wire is wounded upon an insulator to
conduct voltage and electricity. Finer wire is used for lower current.

Figure 6: A Copper Coil

➢Connecting wires
• Connecting wires allows an electrical current to travel from one
point on a circuit to another because electricity needs a medium
through which it can move. Most of the connecting wires are made
up of copper or aluminum , bounded with plastic.

Figure 7: Connecting wires

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➢Battery
An electric battery is a device consisting one or more
electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into
electrical energy. Each cell contains a positive terminal and a
negative terminal. Electrolytes inside allow the ions to move between
the terminals, which allows the current to flow oyt of the battery to
perform work.

Here a 9V battery is used.

Figure 8: A 9V Batter

➢ Switch
ON/OFF switch is used to turn on or off the power supply in the circuit as
and when required.

Figure 9: An ON/OFF Switch

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 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
• The main component in this circuit is the secondary coil,
which is made by winding a magnetic wire around a
cylindrical object (any non conductive object).
• A high current high frequency transistor like 2N2222 is used
to supply current through the primary coil. The whole set up
is powered by a 9V battery as shown above. Whenever the
transistor conducts, current is flown through the primary coil.
The LED diode and one end of the secondary coil is also
connected to base of transistor to make the circuit oscillate,
this way the transistor will send a oscillating current into
primary coil.

Figure 10: Circuit diagram for the construction of Mini Tesla Coil

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 METHOD

1.Wind the copper wire (secondary coil) closely around the PVC
pipe (or a cylindrical non conducting object) as close as
possible, without overlapping one another.

Figure 11: Coil wounded closely around the object

2.Attach a small ball wrapped in aluminium foil on the top end

of the pipe.

Figure 12: Ball wrapped in aluminium foil

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3. Stick the cylinder on a proper base where the connections
have to be made.

Figure 13: cylinder stuck on a base

4.Take a connecting wire (primary coil) and wind it around

the cylinder so that both the ends of that wire is at the base.

Figure 14: primary coil around cylinder

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 5.Connect the 27k resistor and lower end of the copper wire to
the base terminal of the transistor.

Figure 15: connected resistor and transistor

6.Connect one end of the primary coil to the collecting terminal

of the transistor.
7.Take a small piece of another connecting wore and connect
one end to the resistor and the other to the other end of the
primary coil.
8.Take a battery snap and connect the negative terminal (black)
to the emmiter terminal of the transistor.
9.Connect the positive terminal (red) of the snap to a switch.

Figure 16: Swich connected to the snap

10.Take another small pice of wire and connect one end to the switch and
the other to the transistor.

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11.Connect the 9V battery to the battery snap.

Figure 17: battery connected to the snap

12.Place a CFL lamp near the coil.

13.You can place a LED bulb in the circuit to check whether the
current is flowing, if necessary

Figure 19: LED in the circuit

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 RESULT
• The CFL lamp brought near the Tesla Coil gets lighten up due to the
transmission of electricity through air.

Figure 20: Lamp glowing near the coil

• The lamp becomes dimmer when moved away from the coil.

Figure 21:Dim lamp away from coil

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 ADVANTAGES

• Non radiative energy transfer is safe for people and animals.

• Wastage of Power is less.
• Provides high efficiency over large distance.
• Does not interfere with radio-waves.
• With widespread use, it could eliminate costly batteries.
• Mini tesla coils can be used as household ,ie, can be used
at the time of power cuts and for emergencies.

DISADVANTAGES

• The tesla coil in its wider use requires a higher version of

it which Have disadvantages.
• It's deeply inefficient. Power you can receive drops off
exponentially as you move further away.
• It's impractical. The magnetic field generated by such a
device would cause all sorts of noise in any unshielded
electronic device.
• It's impractical. The cost of such a system would be
immense, and the cost for powering it would be
exponentially more than a direct power line.

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• The Tesla coil operates at a high enough frequency that
the current from the output does not penetrate the skin.
So you won't get a shock from it.
• In Tesla coil there is enough current that it can burn the
skin. It has both high voltage and high current.

Due to all these disadvantages and harmful effects of

it, the idea of tesla coils are rarely used nowadays.
But the students still consider this as a good
application of physics and often study and research
about it.

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Today, small Tesla coils are used as leak detectors in
scientific high vacuum systems and igniters in arc
welders.
Tesla coils are displayed as attractions at science
museums and electronics fairs, and are used to
demonstrate principles of high frequency electricity in
science classes in schools and colleges.
Low-power Tesla coils are also sometimes
used as a high-voltage source for Kirlian
photography.

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 A Tesla Coil is a simple coil that creates a high voltage electric
field in the air when a small input power (9V) is provided, this electric
filed is strong enough to glow small light bulbs. This principle was
invented by the Nicola Tesla, who also holds the credit for inventing
Induction Motors, AC current, neon bulbs, Remote controls, etc.
The Tesla coil works with the principle of Electromagnetic
Induction. According to which, when a conductor is placed under a
varying magnetic field, a small current will be induced inside the
conductor. For a Tesla coil this conductor will be called as
the secondary coil and the varying magnetic field will be produced by
the primary coil by passing an oscillating current through the primary
coil. The current transmitted out can be thus light a CFL lamp placed
close to it, which means , the concept wireless electricity found by
Tesla was true.

CONCLUSION
• Generates high voltage with high frequency.
• Transmits electrical power wirelessly upto a certain distance depending
upon its ratings.
• Principle of Electromagnetic Induction is verified.

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• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_coil

• https://www.slideshare.net/rahulchhatrapati/report-on-mini-tesla-
coil

• https://circuitdigest.com/electronic-circuits/how-to-make-a-mini-
tesla-coil-9v

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SF4KPqNK4c

• https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/m9hze/drawbacks
_of_the_tesla_coil/

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