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  • You can look, but don't touch. These arcs of

  • plasma are lethal enough to kill on contact! In

  • this project we're using an old microwave oven

  • transformer to extract these traveling electric arcs.

  • In a previous video, I found a microwave in my

  • neighbors garbage can, and salvaged this iron core

  • high voltage transformer. This is heavy metal.

  • The primary winding is around 100 turns of

  • insulated wire, and there's somewhere around a

  • thousand on the secondary. I'll pull these clips

  • off the primary to expose its 2 terminals, and

  • pull this middle wire out of the way because I

  • won't be using that. I've got the secondary

  • winding connected to some 14 gauge wire and then

  • taped to a nail on the end of this wooden stick.

  • This setup should insulate my body from the

  • circuit. The other end of the secondary winding

  • is grounded to the iron directly and when I put

  • power to it, I can draw out some high voltage

  • electrical arcs. In order to get these arcs to

  • travel upward like this, I'll need to form a "V"

  • shaped spark gap. I don't have any metal coat

  • hangers, but I have some un-insulated 14 gauge

  • copper wire that should work. I'm cutting these 2

  • pieces roughly 2 feet long, and using this piece

  • of glass I salvaged from the door of the

  • microwave. Adding pressure and rolling the glass

  • back and forth seems to be an effective way to get

  • the kinks out. 3 inches of the wire is bent 90º,

  • then folded back in half, and using pliers to bend

  • the tips over, it looks like this. Holding

  • everything flat, I'll trim the tips, and curve

  • them over, and that's pretty much it. This small

  • piece of wood should work well as a base for the

  • spark gap, so two holes are drilled, and screws

  • added to hold the copper electrodes in place.

  • This wire is soft, so I can easily form it into a

  • "V" shape, so that the closest contact points are

  • 3/8" apart. The top is just over 20 inches high

  • and about an inch wide. To make this insulated

  • safety stick, I simply hammered a nail into the

  • end of a wood 2x2, and proceed to cut the head off

  • using a hacksaw. The MOT voltage isn't high

  • enough to jump a gap this wide, so the nail body

  • will help it get started. To add power, I'll use

  • the cord I scavenged from the microwave. I've

  • added alligator clips to the wires, and made sure

  • the green wire is out of the way. The black and

  • white get clipped onto the primary coil, and these

  • separate clips connect to the secondary winding

  • and the outside of the transformer body. Now I

  • can plug the cord in, flip on the power, and with

  • one hand behind my back, aim this nail right

  • between the gap. And there it goes! This is

  • lethally high voltage, but not quite enough to

  • start on its own. The electrode wires diverge at

  • a very slight angle, slowly stretching the arc as

  • it travels upward. It's impressive how much it

  • grows at the top before it breaks. Shaky wires

  • make the arc less stable, and cut out before

  • reaching the top. I'm inside the house now to get

  • out of the wind, and when this one sparks, it

  • takes off like a rocket. The unballasted arc

  • behaves almost like a short circuit, drawing power

  • until the arc snaps, or the circuit breaker pops.

  • I can't think of any practical use for this. It's

  • simply quenching my curiosity. This airborne

  • electricity is rocketing upward because it's

  • heating the air around it, and the hot air rises.

  • They might look harmless enough, but don't touch

  • because contact with the exposed high-voltage

  • conductors can be lethal. That's why I have

  • gloves, and a safety stick. I've just narrowed

  • the spark gap, and now when it shorts out, I've

  • captured a glowing orb of electricity. I have to

  • look away because of all the UV radiation flying

  • out of this thing. I still have this high voltage

  • capacitor from a previous video and i'm wondering

  • what would happen if I added it in parallel with

  • the spark gap? Let's find out. Yikes! That's

  • one supercharged spark. Because this is indoors

  • it's easy to make this into an ozone generator!

  • Right now, this is ionizing oxygen and nitrogen

  • into ozone and nitrous oxide gasses. At least

  • until the breaker pops. And perhaps that's a good

  • thing since the gas is poisonous. Well I'm still

  • alive, so this is probably a good time to power

  • off and disconnect the cord. It's extremely

  • important to safely discharge the capacitor before

  • I remove these lead wires, and put everything

  • away. I can tell this transformer took some abuse

  • because it's extremely hot, and hard to hold onto.

  • If you like watching these projects, please

  • support me by being a subscriber and sharing with

  • your friends. I appreciate your support. Thanks

  • for watching!

You can look, but don't touch. These arcs of

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