Everything Else
News: The Best Smart LED Lighting for the Smart Home
One of the latest home-improvement gadgets out there today, smart lighting, has become more popular as prices come down. That being said, its still quite a penny to shell out. In this article, I'll go through a few of the top products out there today, including the Philips Hue, Belkin WeMo, and Lifx.
News: Playing an Electric Guitar With 100,000V
Video: . I made this Tesla Coil using the myRIO and LabVIEW. It uses electricity to play the music, which can be Star Wars, Harry Potter or even Hunger Games! The music is played by the spark heating the surrounding air (causing it to expand) then the spark turning off (causing the air to cool and contract). This expanding and contracting cause's longitudinal waves - or sound waves.
Graphene: Another Amazing Carbon Product?
What Is Graphene?
News: Portable DIY Tesla Coil Gun Shoots 20,000 Volts of Lightning!
Tesla coils are totally insane, yet undeniably captivating. And they can be used for many things, from electric painting to dueling musical battles. But one trigger happy fellow has a different use for Tesla's lightning shooting coil. A weapon.
News: DIY Snowflake Cultivation with 2,000 Volts of Thermoelectric Cooling
Snowflakes aren't much to look at during a storm, but when you look real close, you can see just how marvelous they really are. But winter is over and most of us can no longer enjoy the intricate nature of ice crystallization, unless you're sticking your head in your freezer. Or unless you build your own snowflake cultivation machine, which shoots 2,000 volts of electricity through a cold, moist chamber.
The Ultimate DIY Spy Drone: Start Building Your Own UAV for Under $800
Over the next few months, I'll be focusing on building a fully functional, long range UAV. This series will consist of several in-depth articles on my progress and the steps involved, so you can follow along and build your own unmanned aerial vehicle!
Dueling Plasma: Singing Tesla Coils' Shocking Battle to the Death
Tesla coils are electrically satisfying in so many ways. But what happens when a guitar-playing city coil has a run-in with a backwoods, banjo-playing, inbred coil? A musical duel to the death! Watch these two Tesla coils battle it out as they play Dueling Banjos. Shocking. Just shocking. Okay, so it's no secret that Tesla coils can create a wonderful light show of electricity, but by modulating the frequency, they quickly turn into powerful singing Tesla coils—the key to any electromaniac's ...
News: Laser Blasts 2 Megajoule Beam 1,000 Times Stronger Than All U.S. Power Plants Combined
You might already know a little bit about what the National Ignition Facility has been up to lately, or what they could possibly achieve. But last week, even the scientists at the Livermore, California station couldn't predict the awesome power that their humongous laser was capable of. NIF's laser is already the record holder for the world's largest laser, and now it can also claim to be the first ever 2 megajoule ultraviolet laser after it generated nearly 100 times more energy than any oth...
Make Your Own Nitrous Oxide: Hilarious Science
If you've ever had teeth removed/minor surgery, you most likely received some laughing gas, or nitrous oxide. This gas creates a happy, lightened feeling, and causes instant laughter. In this article, I'll show you how to make some. BUT BE CAREFUL!!! DO NOT proceed in this experiment unless you have EXTENSIVE knowledge of chemistry!!! Misuse of this procedure could result in the production of LETHAL GASSES! However, the set-up is quite simple, if done correctly should not lead to any issues. ...
News: Fiber Laser Scores Aperture Logo in Steel While Playing Portal's "Still Alive" Theme Song
Most of your who visit Fear of Lightning are probably well familiar with laser weaponry, thanks to Christopher's three-part series covering carbon dioxide, flashlamp, and semiconductor lasers. Another type of laser currently being developed as a weapon is the fiber laser, which is compact and efficient, but much weaker than a chemical laser. Fiber lasers are more commonly used in laser cutting and marking, telecommunications, spectroscopy, and of course... music.
News: Flying Quadrotor Robots Play the James Bond Theme on Real Instruments
Created by the University of Pennsylvania, these bots would impress Q himself. This army of mini quad-copters are controlled with rhythmic precision, a truly awe-inspiring collaboration of music and technology. From playing a synthesizer to drums and cymbals, each robots is multi-talented. The tiny helicopters are equipped with reflectors, making it possible to plot their position using infrared lights and cameras positioned around the room. Check out the video!
News: Harrison Krix's DIY Daft Punk Helmet in 4-Month Time-Lapse Video
What can I say—it's amazing. Loaded with over 350 LEDs in a matrix, this Daft Punk helmet simply radiates awesomeness. Made by Harrison Krix of Volpin Props, this DIY project took four months to build (much shorter than his last helmet of 17 months).
News: Can someone help me?
Hi everyone! I love the ideas what you showed us and the how to make does electric stuffs, but I had some ideas:
News: 5 Electrifying DIY Valentine's Day Projects to Score the Nerd Next Door
Valentine's Day is almost here, and if you're like me, you're scurrying to do something special for your mate. The standard chocolates and flowers just isn't cutting it anymore, and you can only make so many homemade cards before it becomes banal and meaningless. So, what can you do that shows you put some work into it, while not breaking the bank?
National Ignition Facility: Big, Giant Lasers of Doom... Or Endless Energy?
National Ignition Facility
News: Space Painting with a Tesla Coil and One Million Volts of Electricity
Nikola Tesla. He was the man behind some of the greatest inventions of all time, including radio and alternating current. But perhaps his most visually fascinating invention is the Tesla coil. While maintaining a low current, it can produce dangerous high frequencies and voltages that can well exceed 1,000,000 volts, discharging it in the form of electrical arcs very similar to lightning.
News: Free eBook Resources on Nikola Tesla and His Projects
So, when Christopher brought up Nikola Tesla in his very first post on Fear of Lightning, it got me interested in learning more about the man behind alternating current. There is plenty of info out there on the Internet, widely available for free, but sometimes it's just nice to have a book in your hands... or on your computer or mobile device.
News: Butane Combustion High Voltage Capacitor Launcher
Here's a little gadget I made based on the concept of a potato launcher, a stungun, and a dart gun. The gun uses an explosive gas (butane) to launch a charged high voltage capacitor at a target. The gas is ignited by a small spark, created by a pulse transformer. The trigger automatically fills the combustion chamber with the correct amount of gas, then ignites it with the pulse transformer. The result: a long range stun dart gun.
News: Tesla Coil Music!
Tesla coil music, a method of modulating the frequency of a Solid State Tesla Coil to produce music. The result is an amazing lightshow of electricity, paired with music!
News: Making Sound Sculptures with a Speaker and Cornstarch
Posted below is an interesting video on the effects of low frequency square waveforms on cornstarch. To make, simply mix cornstarch and water, then place on a large speaker hooked up to an amplifier and a signal generator (generating around 20-30 hertz). An old stereo works great, as long as it has an aux-in. There is lots of free signal generating software at arms length, like this one. I found adding a little olive oil into the cornstarch mix makes it easier to handle, and contributes to th...
Lightning on Demand: Building the World's Largest Tesla Coils
Electrical engineer Greg Leyh and company are currently creating a pair of 118-foot Tesla coils! The largest coil built to date is an 18-story tower constructed back in 1903 by Tesla himself, but Leyh has decided to not only recreate the huge coil, but double it in size. The project goes by the name of "Lightning on Demand" and is currently being constructed on an 81-acre plot in the Nevada desert. Once it's finished, the pair of coils will output 10 million volt acres 100 yards long—the size...
Understanding Electricity: Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla In my opinion, one of the most neglected inventors of all time. The names Edison and Marconi come to mind as familiar, but Tesla? Most think of a car. Few know that Tesla is responsible for alternating current, florescent lights, radar, remote control, generators that preform efficiently, the spark plug, and many others. The U.S Supreme Court declared in 1943 that Tesla, not Marconi, was the true inventor of the radio.