I just got a cool little minion that’s
gung-ho to try some experiments so what
do you think would happen if we let them
play with high voltage electricity in
this project we’re repurposing a neon
sign transformer to power some mad
science experiments and push the
boundaries on cooking with electricity
[Music]
let’s start this experiment with a neon
sign transformer
this one’s twelve thousand volts and
current limited to 30 milliamps which
basically means it’s less likely to kill
you these kind of NS T’s are getting
outdated and thrown away all the time so
if you make friends with a contractor in
the electric sign industry you might be
able to get a whole load of them just
for buying them lunch ask me how I know
that
let’s connect a couple of alligator
clips to either side of the high-voltage
terminals then carefully connect the hot
and neutral leads to 120 volts AC with
the NST powered up you can actually feel
the wires buzzing and if they get too
close to each other the electricity
jumps from one lead to the other forming
an electric bridge this kind of
electricity is very aggressive so make
sure you don’t get your hands too close
to the leads themselves because you
don’t want the electricity jumping into
you now for our first experiment I
stopped by a local toy store and got a
little helper his name is Stewart and
we’ll start by strapping 10-inch nail
spikes to his hand secured in place with
black zip ties if we clip the leads from
the NST directly to the spikes and turn
on the power
our little minion gets a fascinating
look at electrified plasma up close and
personal now you might have noticed the
tips of the nails glowing purple and the
electricity seems to be really really
stretchy that’s because once it jumps
the gap the electrons ionize the air
making it more conductive essentially
forming a conduit that lets power flow
without wires this is one of the reasons
the high voltage is so dangerous because
it can literally jump right through the
air and bite you if you get too close
all right let’s try something a little
safer I just built a Jacob’s Ladder out
of a 3/16 inch steel rod and a wooden
base that I spray-painted silver the
rods aren’t connected but you can see
there’s a place for hooking a
high-voltage lead to each individual rod
I bent the wire so there are a quarter
inch apart at the bottom then gradually
spread upward the three and a half
inches at the top these magnetic balls
of the tips are just to make it look
cooler if we clip a lead to each of the
rods we can safely plug in our NST and
turn on the power from
distance now check out what’s going on
between the rods there’s enough voltage
for the electricity to jump the air gap
at the bottom then the arcs immediately
rock it upward climbing toward the top
this happens because when the electrons
jump the gap they heat the air between
the rods and as you know hot air rises
the rising air carries the electricity
upward until it gets stretched so wide
it can’t hang on anymore so it gives up
and goes back to jump in the easier gap
at the bottom which you can see repeats
over and over again indefinitely alright
let’s try something a little bit
different if we try holding the
electrodes horizontally you can see the
arc doesn’t have anywhere to go
it just sits there peacefully but watch
what happens if we blow on it with a
straw the plasma quickly dissipates and
you can see individual streams of
electrons jumping the gap in a beautiful
purple Corona spreading off to the sides
which kind of looks like an electrical
cotton-candy now for one last experiment
what do you think would happen if we
tried skewing two marshmallows with the
two electrodes look closely at the gap
when we turn on the power and you’ll see
purple sparks jumping around heating the
marshmallows from the inside out which
apparently makes it bubble and more if
like something right out of a sci-fi
movie a few seconds later you can see
mini smoke rings shooting all around the
room and just when we thought things
couldn’t get any crazier the whole thing
burst into flames well I guess that’s
just what you’d expect when you hire a
minion to do mad science experiments
well now you know how to repurpose old
NST is to build a 12,000 volt Jacob’s
Ladder or just to try roasting
marshmallows with science well that’s it
for now if you liked this project
perhaps you’ll like some of my others
check them out at the king of random
calm hey guys thanks for watching to the
end if you want to see another video
just click here to go back 1 or click
here to go forward I’ve also made some
playlists for you random weekend
projects random experiments life hacks
and mad science if you can’t click the
screen just look for these links in the
description I post new videos every 5
days so please subscribe and I’ll see
you around for the next one talk to you
then
[Music]
gung-ho to try some experiments so what
do you think would happen if we let them
play with high voltage electricity in
this project we’re repurposing a neon
sign transformer to power some mad
science experiments and push the
boundaries on cooking with electricity
[Music]
let’s start this experiment with a neon
sign transformer
this one’s twelve thousand volts and
current limited to 30 milliamps which
basically means it’s less likely to kill
you these kind of NS T’s are getting
outdated and thrown away all the time so
if you make friends with a contractor in
the electric sign industry you might be
able to get a whole load of them just
for buying them lunch ask me how I know
that
let’s connect a couple of alligator
clips to either side of the high-voltage
terminals then carefully connect the hot
and neutral leads to 120 volts AC with
the NST powered up you can actually feel
the wires buzzing and if they get too
close to each other the electricity
jumps from one lead to the other forming
an electric bridge this kind of
electricity is very aggressive so make
sure you don’t get your hands too close
to the leads themselves because you
don’t want the electricity jumping into
you now for our first experiment I
stopped by a local toy store and got a
little helper his name is Stewart and
we’ll start by strapping 10-inch nail
spikes to his hand secured in place with
black zip ties if we clip the leads from
the NST directly to the spikes and turn
on the power
our little minion gets a fascinating
look at electrified plasma up close and
personal now you might have noticed the
tips of the nails glowing purple and the
electricity seems to be really really
stretchy that’s because once it jumps
the gap the electrons ionize the air
making it more conductive essentially
forming a conduit that lets power flow
without wires this is one of the reasons
the high voltage is so dangerous because
it can literally jump right through the
air and bite you if you get too close
all right let’s try something a little
safer I just built a Jacob’s Ladder out
of a 3/16 inch steel rod and a wooden
base that I spray-painted silver the
rods aren’t connected but you can see
there’s a place for hooking a
high-voltage lead to each individual rod
I bent the wire so there are a quarter
inch apart at the bottom then gradually
spread upward the three and a half
inches at the top these magnetic balls
of the tips are just to make it look
cooler if we clip a lead to each of the
rods we can safely plug in our NST and
turn on the power from
distance now check out what’s going on
between the rods there’s enough voltage
for the electricity to jump the air gap
at the bottom then the arcs immediately
rock it upward climbing toward the top
this happens because when the electrons
jump the gap they heat the air between
the rods and as you know hot air rises
the rising air carries the electricity
upward until it gets stretched so wide
it can’t hang on anymore so it gives up
and goes back to jump in the easier gap
at the bottom which you can see repeats
over and over again indefinitely alright
let’s try something a little bit
different if we try holding the
electrodes horizontally you can see the
arc doesn’t have anywhere to go
it just sits there peacefully but watch
what happens if we blow on it with a
straw the plasma quickly dissipates and
you can see individual streams of
electrons jumping the gap in a beautiful
purple Corona spreading off to the sides
which kind of looks like an electrical
cotton-candy now for one last experiment
what do you think would happen if we
tried skewing two marshmallows with the
two electrodes look closely at the gap
when we turn on the power and you’ll see
purple sparks jumping around heating the
marshmallows from the inside out which
apparently makes it bubble and more if
like something right out of a sci-fi
movie a few seconds later you can see
mini smoke rings shooting all around the
room and just when we thought things
couldn’t get any crazier the whole thing
burst into flames well I guess that’s
just what you’d expect when you hire a
minion to do mad science experiments
well now you know how to repurpose old
NST is to build a 12,000 volt Jacob’s
Ladder or just to try roasting
marshmallows with science well that’s it
for now if you liked this project
perhaps you’ll like some of my others
check them out at the king of random
calm hey guys thanks for watching to the
end if you want to see another video
just click here to go back 1 or click
here to go forward I’ve also made some
playlists for you random weekend
projects random experiments life hacks
and mad science if you can’t click the
screen just look for these links in the
description I post new videos every 5
days so please subscribe and I’ll see
you around for the next one talk to you
then
[Music]
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