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
00:04:02please support me by being a subscriber
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]