Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

Doctor Who Theme Song Accompanied by Tesla Coils

Posted by "GrrlScientist" on May 28, 2010
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The musical group, ArcAttack, constructed a set of Tesla Coils that they use to perform “an electrifying” live performance at Maker Faire 2010, held in San Mateo, California. Maker Faire is an event created by Make Magazine to “celebrate arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset.”

According to the filmographer, the HVDJ pumps music through a PA system while two specially designed DRSSTC’s (Dual-Resonant Solid State Tesla Coils) act as separate synchronized instruments. These high tech machines produce an electrical arc similar to a continuous lightning bolt and put out a crisply distorted square wave sound reminiscent of the early days of synthesizers.

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Comments

  1. #1 Luke D
    May 28, 2010

    Further evidence that science+music=awesome.

  2. #2 The Science Pundit
    May 28, 2010

    That was electrifying!

  3. #3 curiousgeorgie
    May 29, 2010

    I was there. It was awesome. Apparently they even let at least one audience member on stage (protected by a Faraday cage, of course) – I must’ve missed that, but there’s video from the inside!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQGWUP9Y2FM

  4. #4 MadScientist
    May 30, 2010

    Definitely something not to try at home. The Tesla coils are deadly and these performers are protected. If you’re lucky a low-power coil will simply give you nasty radio frequency burns but coils that throw out nice bright long sparks like that are killers. There aren’t many recorded fatalities from these coils, but they’re not exactly a common household item. They’re quite impressive though. I’ve always wanted to build a solid state version but I’m too paranoid about someone else switching it on.