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Lethal Electric Arcs (MOT Jacobs ladder)


00:00:07you can look but don’t touch these arcs

00:00:10of plasma are lethal enough to kill on

00:00:12contact in this project we’re using an

00:00:14old microwave oven transformer to

00:00:17extract these travelling electric arcs

00:00:21[Music]

00:00:34in a previous video I found a microwave

00:00:36in my neighbor’s garbage can and

00:00:38salvaged this iron core high voltage

00:00:40transformer this is heavy metal the

00:00:43primary winding is around a hundred

00:00:44turns of insulated wire and there’s

00:00:46somewhere around a thousand on the

00:00:47secondary I’ll pull these clips off the

00:00:49primary two exposes two terminals and

00:00:51pull this middle wire out of the way

00:00:53because I won’t be using that I’ve got

00:00:55the secondary winding connected to some

00:00:5614 gauge wire and then taped to a nail

00:00:58on the end of this wooden stick this

00:01:00setup should insulate my body from the

00:01:02circuit the other end of the secondary

00:01:04winding is grounded to the iron directly

00:01:05and when I put power to it I can draw

00:01:07out some high-voltage electrical arcs in

00:01:10order to get these arcs to travel upward

00:01:11like this I’ll need to form a v-shaped

00:01:13spark gap I don’t have any metal coat

00:01:16hangers but I have some uninsulated 14

00:01:18gauge copper wire this should work I’m

00:01:19cutting these two pieces roughly two

00:01:21feet long and using this piece of glass

00:01:23I salvaged from the door of the

00:01:24microwave adding pressure and rolling

00:01:26the glass back and forth seems to be an

00:01:28effective way to get the kinks out three

00:01:30inches of the wire is bent 90 degrees

00:01:31then folded back in half and using

00:01:33pliers to bend the tips over it looks

00:01:35like this holding everything flat I’ll

00:01:37trim the tips and curve them over and

00:01:39that’s pretty much it this small piece

00:01:41of wood should work well as a base for

00:01:42the spark gap so two holes are drilled

00:01:44and screws at it to hold the copper

00:01:46electrodes in place this wire is soft so

00:01:48I can easily form it into a V shape so

00:01:50that the closest contact points are 3/8

00:01:52of an inch apart the top is just over 20

00:01:54inches high and about an inch wide to

00:01:56make this insulated safety stick I

00:01:58simply hammered a nail into the end of a

00:02:00wood 2×2 and proceeded to cut the head

00:02:02off using a hacksaw the MOT voltage

00:02:04isn’t high enough to jump a gap this

00:02:06wide so the nail body will help it get

00:02:07started to add power I’ll use the cord I

00:02:10scavenged for the microwave I’ve added

00:02:12alligator clips to the wires and made

00:02:13sure the green wire is out of the way

00:02:15the black and white get clipped onto the

00:02:17primary coil and these separate clips

00:02:18connect to the secondary winding and the

00:02:20outside of the transformer body now I

00:02:22can plug the cord in flip on the power

00:02:24and with one hand behind

00:02:26back aim the snail right between the gap

00:02:28and there it goes

00:02:29this is lethally high-voltage but not

00:02:31quite enough to start on its own the

00:02:33electrode wires diverge at a very slight

00:02:35angle slowly stretching the arc as it

00:02:37travels upward

00:02:38it’s impressive it how much it grows at

00:02:39the top before it breaks shaky wires

00:02:41make the arc less stable and cut out

00:02:43before reaching the top I’m inside the

00:02:45house now to get out of the wind and

00:02:46when this one sparks it takes off like a

00:02:49rocket

00:02:49the unbalanced ax dark behaves almost

00:02:51like a short circuit drawing power and

00:02:53tell the arc snaps or the circuit

00:02:54breaker pops I can’t think of any

00:02:56practical use for this it’s simply

00:02:58quenching my curiosity this airborne

00:03:00electricity is rocketing up work because

00:03:02it’s heating the air around it and the

00:03:04hot air rises they might look harmless

00:03:05enough but don’t touch

00:03:07because contact with the exposed

00:03:08high-voltage conductors can be lethal

00:03:10that’s why I have gloves and a safety

00:03:12stick I’ve just narrowed the spark gap

00:03:14and now when it shorts out I’ve captured

00:03:16a glowing orb of electricity I have to

00:03:19look away because of all the UV

00:03:20radiation flying out of this thing I

00:03:22still have this high-voltage capacitor

00:03:24from a previous video and I’m wondering

00:03:25what would happen if I added it in

00:03:27parallel with the spark gap let’s find

00:03:29out thanks that’s one super trip spark

00:03:32because this is indoors it’s easy to

00:03:34make this into an ozone generator right

00:03:36now this is ionizing oxygen and nitrogen

00:03:38into ozone and nitric oxide gases now at

00:03:41least until the breaker pops and perhaps

00:03:43that’s a good thing since the gas is

00:03:45poisonous while I’m still alive so this

00:03:47is probably a good time to power up and

00:03:49disconnect the cord it’s extremely

00:03:51important to safely discharge the

00:03:53capacitor before I remove these lead

00:03:54wires and put everything away I can tell

00:03:57this transformer took some abuse because

00:03:58it’s extremely hot and hard to hold on

00:04:00to if you like watching these projects

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00:04:04and sharing with your friends I

00:04:06appreciate your support thanks for

00:04:07watching

00:04:09you

00:04:11[Music]