Why everyone are building tesla coils instead of multipliers?

Question

When I see someone want to get high voltage - we see tesla coil.

Why everyone do that instead of building Cockcroft–Walton generator? Are there any issues with Cockcroft–Walton generator, making it less fun than tesla coil?

Like the Wikipedia article says this was invented long before Cockcroft and Walton by a guy named Greinacher. I always refer to it as a Greinacher multiplier. — stevenvh, Aug 14 '11 at 13:24

score 17 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 14 '11 at 14:07

It's more fun. Nothing says "mad scientist" like big coils, a few jacob's ladders around the place, sparks flying off towards the sky, and a visible corona. Some of these things don't work with DC, and a few diodes and capacitors aren't nearly as awe inspiring.

score 10 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 16 '23 at 21:14

10

Mostly, the tesla coil is simpler than the multiplier.

To raise the output voltage of the Cockroft-Walton generator, you need to increase the number of stages and/or the voltage rating of the diodes. To do the same for the tesla coil, it simply requires a bigger coil.

edited Nov 16 '23 at 21:14

MicroservicesOnDDD

2,790
1
14
51

answered Aug 14 '11 at 13:26

Brog

1,022
7
13

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 14 '11 at 14:01

The way I understand it, a CW Generator creates high voltage DC, whereas a tesla coil create high voltage AC.

For the fun sparky effects it is easier to use AC that DC as it should spark at a lower voltage.

Also, to get a CW generator up to the kind of voltages that a tesla coil typically gets to (say half a million volts) would take a lot of stages and be quite hard to make.

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 14 '11 at 18:44

6

Maybe it's the added bonus that the Tesla coil makes lots of noise. The old school spark-gap ones buzz rather loudly, and it's even possible with solid state drive to make a TC emit audio signals from the discharge.

answered Aug 14 '11 at 18:44

JustJeff

19,233
3
51
77

2

+1 for Singing Tesla coils a, b, c, etc. – davidcary May 23 '13 at 18:40

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 07 '15 at 23:54

Tesla Coils are marginally less dangerous due to the "Skin Effect" whereas a C.W. Multiplier can become deadly pretty quickly. Also, having a constant stream of arcs, that loud buzz, and the smell of ozone is an experience that a Tesla Coil is quite adept at providing! Besides, a Tesla Coil looks a lot like the universally recognized "Ray Gun"!

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 07 '15 at 15:36

A tesla coil uses resonance ,and the q of the secondary multiplies the reactive watts. The reactive output of a tesla coil at 500kv at 8 amps is 4 Mega Watts. Though its not true power ,what your seeing is the reactive power entering the capacitance of air. A voltage multiplier is just true power being stored and discharged.

Why everyone are building tesla coils instead of multipliers?

6 Answers6