PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

TESLA COIL PROJECT

BY
ARUN KUMARAN.A
XII ELOQUENT
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Arun kumaran . A of XII eloquent has successfully completed
the physics Investigatory project “TESLA COIL PROJECT ” under the guidance
Of “ ” and summited for the practical examination conducted by the CBSE
board during this year 2024-2025

INTERNALEXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I gratefully acknowledge my sincere thanks to our physics teacher an our

Principal MS VIDHYA HARI for giving me an opportunity to complete the project successfully

ARUN KUMARAN.A
XII ELOQUENT
WIRELESS ELECTRICITY

THROUGH MINI TESLA COIL

CONTENTS
• PREFACE ~1
• INTRODUCTION ~2
o WORKING PRINCIPLE

• MATERIALS AND METHODS ~ 6

o APPARATUS
o CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
o METHOD

• RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ~ 15

o RESULT
o ADVANTAGES
o DISADVANTAGES
o APPLICATIONS

• SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ~ 18

• BIBLIOGRAPHY ~ 19
 PREFACE

In 1891, inventor Nikola Tesla created the first system to wirelessly transmit
electricity known as the Tesla coil. Tesla was dreaming of spreading wireless
electricity across the world through the invention. The Tesla coil functions through
the principle of electromagnetic induction in which a conductor is placed in a
changing magnetic field and produces voltage across the conductor.

The invention by Tesla is one of the most important inventions in the

history of physics, which later pushed away due to its disadvantages, though
having various advantages.

Miniature forms of these Tesla Coils are made as projects for study with
the help of locally available materials such as coil, wire, battery, etc.

Lets check about the various methods of making it, its principle and some
of its uses.

INTRODUCTION
A mini Tesla coil is a miniature version of the Tesla coil which is an electrical
resonant transformer circuit designed by inventor Nikola Tesla in 1891.It is used to
produce high-voltage, low-current, high frequency alternating-current electricity. Nikola
Tesla put forward a possible way of transmission of electricity wirelessly through air.

Tesla Coils or resonant transformers of high frequency and high potential have
been used in many commercial applications.Although not all commercial applications for
Tesla coils are still in use for some historical and modern day applications including :

o Spark Gap Radio Transmittors o Induction and dielectric heating

o Induction Coils

o Medical X-Ray devices o Quack medical devices

o Ozone generators

o Particle accelerators

o Electrical stage shows and entertainment

 The first system that could wirelessly transmit electricity, the Tesla coil was a truly
revolutionary invention. Early radio antennas and telegraphy used the invention, but
variations of the coil can also do things that are just plain cool — like shoot lightning
bolts, send electric currents through the body and create electron winds.

The concept behind the coil is actually fairly simple and makes use of
electromagnetic force and resonance.

The power source is hooked up to the primary coil. The primary coil's capacitor acts
like a sponge and soaks up the charge. The primary coil itself must be able to withstand
the massive charge and huge surges of current, so the coil is usually made out of copper,
a good conductor of electricity. Eventually, the capacitor builds up so much charge that it
breaks down the air resistance in the spark gap. Then, similar to squeezing out a soaked
sponge, the current flows out of the capacitor down the primary coil and creates a
magnetic field.

The massive amount of energy makes the magnetic field collapse quickly, and
generates an electric current in the secondary coil. The voltage zipping through the air
between the two coils creates sparks in the spark gap. The energy sloshes back and forth
between the two coils several hundred times per second, and builds up in the secondary
coil and capacitor. Eventually, the charge in the secondary capacitor gets so high that it
breaks free in a spectacular burst of electric current.
The resulting high-frequency voltage can illuminate fluorescent bulbs several feet
away with no electrical wire connection.

Early radio antennas and telegraphs used the technology and although the Tesla coil is
not widely used today, the revolutionary invention introduced and demonstrated the
wireless application of electricity. By building your own Tesla coil, you will be able to
produce an oscillating radio frequency to generate a high enough voltage to illuminate a
light bulb all by itself.
 Figure 1: A mini Tesla Coil lighting a CFL lamp

WORKING PRINCILPLE

 
Faraday’s Law of Magnetic Induction :

“The induced electromotive force in any closed circuit is equal to the negative of
the time rate of change of the magnetic flux enclosed by the circuit.”

Which means that,when a conductor is placed under a varying magnetic field, a

small current will be induced inside the conductor. For a Tesla coil, this conductor will be
called as the secondary coil and the varying magnetic field will be produced by the
primary coil by passing an oscillating current through the primary coil.

 Magnetic Flux : It is the number of magnetic field lines passing through a closed surface
such as the conducting coil.

The power of the Tesla coil lies in a process called electromagnetic induction, i.e., a
changing magnetic field creates an electric potential that compels current to flow.
Conversely, flowing electric current generates a magnetic field. When electricity flows
through a wound up coil of wire, it generates a magnetic field that fills the area around
the coil in a particular pattern, shown with lines below:

Figure 2 : Magnetic Field around the coil

When huge amount of energy is

transmitted through the coil, the
magnetic field
is exploited resulting in the release of electric power.
 Figure 3: Transmission of Electricity through the coil

Electrical current is the flow of electrons, while the difference in electric potential
(voltage) between two places is what pushes that current. Current is like water, and
voltage is like a hill. A large voltage is a steep hill, down which a stream of electrons will
flow. A small voltage is like a near-flat plain with almost no water flow.

The electric potential (“hill”) generated in a coil of wire by a magnetic field

through its center increases with the number of turns of wire. A changing magnetic field
within a coil of 50 turns will generate ten times the voltage of a coil of just five turns.
(However, less current can actually flow through the higher potential, to conserve
energy.)

With the release of electric power, current is produced and a lamp brought near
can be lighten up.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

 APPARATUS

 Resistor

A resistor is a component that opposes a flowing current. Every conductor has a

specific resistance, if one applies a voltage or potential difference V at the terminals of
the resistor, then the current I passing through is given by Ohm’s Law.

Here, a resistor of resistance 27k is used .27k is a high resistance which is equal to
27000 ohms which results in less current hence producing less heat which will be safe for
the circuit.
I = V/ R

A 22k resistor can also be used instead of a 27k one.

Figure 4 : A Resistor
 Transistor
The transistor helps to make the frequency of AC equal to resonant frequency to the
coil by a feedback mechanism. You need not have to manually 'tune' the primary and
secondary coil it is the transistor that 'auto tunes' the mini tesla.

A high current high frequency transistor like 2N2222 is used to supply current
through the primary coil.

Figure 5 : A
2N2222A Transistor

 Copper Wire

Enameled copper wire or magnetic wire is coated with a thin layer of insulation. It is
used in transformers, motors, speakers, almost all the electrical appliances. Some require
tight coils of the wire.

An aluminium wire must have 1.6 times the cross sectional area as a copper wire to
achieve comparable DC resistance.

Due to this, a copper wire is used to improve the energy efficiency in appliances.

Here copper wire is wounded upon an insulator to conduct voltage and electricity.
 Finer wire is used for lower current.

Figure 6: A Copper Coil

 Connecting Wires

Connecting wires allows an electrical current to travel from one point on a circuit
to another because electricity needs a medium through which it can move. Most of
the connecting wires are made up of copper or aluminum , bounded with plastic.

Figure 7: Connecting wires

 Battery

An electric battery is a device consisting one or more electrochemical cells

that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Each cell contains a
positive terminal and a negative terminal. Electrolytes inside allow the ions to move
 between the terminals, which allows the current to flow oyt of the battery to perform
work.

Here a 9V battery is used.

Figure 8: A 9V Batter

 Switch

ON/OFF switch is used to turn on or off the power supply in the circuit as and
when required.

Figure 9: An ON/OFF Switch

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
The main component in this circuit is the secondary coil, which is made by
winding a magnetic wire around a cylindrical object (any non conductive object).
 A high current high frequency transistor like 2N2222 is used to supply current
through the primary coil. The whole set up is powered by a 9V battery as shown above.
Whenever the transistor conducts, current is flown through the primary coil. The LED diode
and one end of the secondary coil is also connected to base of transistor to make the circuit
oscillate, this way the transistor will send a oscillating current into primary coil.

Figure 10: Circuit diagram for the construction of Mini Tesla Coil

METHOD

1. Wind the copper wire (secondary coil) closely around the PVC pipe (or a
cylindrical non conducting object) as close as possible, without overlapping one
another.

Figure 11: Coil wounded closely around the object

 2. Attach a small ball wrapped in aluminium foil on the top end of the pipe.

Figure 12: Ball wrapped in aluminium foil

3. Stick the cylinder on a proper base where the connections have to be made.

Figure 13: cylinder stuck

on a base

4. Take a connecting wire (primary coil) and wind it around the cylinder so that both the
ends of that wire is at the base.
 Figure 14: primary coil around cylinder

5. Connect the 27k resistor and lower end of the copper wire to the base terminal of the
transistor.

Figure 15: connected resistor and transistor

6. Connect one end of the primary coil to the collecting terminal of the transistor.
7. Take a small piece of another connecting wore and connect one end to the resistor
and the other to the other end of the primary coil.
8. Take a battery snap and connect the negative terminal (black) to the emmiter
terminal of the transistor. 9. Connect the posiive terminal (red) of the snap to a
switch.
 `

Figure 16: Swich

connected to the snap

10. Take another small pice of wire and connect one end to the switch and the other to the
transistor.
11. Connect the 9V battery to the battery snap.

Figure 17: battery connected to the snap

12. Place a CFL lamp near the coil.
 Figure 18: CFL lamp near the coil

13. You can place a LED bulb in the circuit to check whether the current is flowing, if
necessary

Figure 19: LED in the circuit

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

RESULT

The CFL lamp brought near the Tesla Coil gets lighten up due to the transmission
of electricity through air.
 Figure 20: Lamp glowing near the coil

The lamp becomes dimmer when moved away from the coil.

Figure 21:Dim lamp away from coil

ADVANTAGES

• Non radiative energy transfer is safe for people and animals.


• Wastage of Power is less.

• Provides high efficiency over large distance.

• Does not interfere with radio-waves.

• With widespread use, it could eliminate costly batteries.

• Mini tesla coils can be used as household ,ie, can be used at the time of power cuts and
for emergencies.

DISADVANTAGES

The tesla coil in its wider use requires a higher version of it which Have
disadvantages.
 • It's deeply inefficient. Power you can receive drops off exponentially as you

 move further away.

• It's impractical. The magnetic field generated by such a device would cause all sorts

 of noise in any unshielded electronic device.

• It's impractical. The cost of such a system would be immense, and the cost for

 powering it would be exponentially more than a direct power line.

• The Tesla coil operates at a high enough frequency that the current from the output does
not penetrate the skin. So you won't be shocked by it. But for a large Tesla coil there is
enough current that it can burn the skin. It has both high voltage and high current.

Due to all these disadvantages and harmful effects of it, the idea of tesla coils
are rarely used nowadays. But the students still consider this as a good application
of physics and often study and research about it.

APPLICATIONS

Today, small Tesla coils are used as leak detectors in scientific high vacuum systems
and igniters in arc welders.

Tesla coils are displayed as attractions at science museums and electronics fairs, and are
used to demonstrate principles of high frequency electricity in science classes in schools
and colleges.

Low-power Tesla coils are also sometimes used as a high-voltage source for
Kirlian photography.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

A Tesla Coil is a simple coil that creates a high voltage electric field in the air
when a small input power (9V) is provided, this electric filed is strong enough to glow
small light bulbs. This principle was invented by the Nicola Tesla, who also holds the
credit for inventing Induction Motors, AC current, neon bulbs, Remote controls, etc.
The Tesla coil works with the principle of Electromagnetic Induction. According
to which, when a conductor is placed under a varying magnetic field, a small current
will be induced inside the conductor. For a Tesla coil this conductor will be called as
the secondary coil and the varying magnetic field will be produced by the primary coil by
passing an oscillating current through the primary coil. The current transmitted out can
be thus light a CFL lamp placed close to it, which means , the concept wireless electricity
found by Tesla was true.

CONCLUSION

 Generates high voltage with high frequency.

 Transmits electrical power wirelessly upto a certain distance depending upon its
ratings.
 Principle of Electromagnetic Induction is verified.

BIBLIOGRAPHY