# Tesla coil

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-coil/195822>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 17, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-coil/195822 "2003-08-17T19:35:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-coil/195822/21 "2003-08-19T01:49:38Z")

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I’ve seen telsa coils used in painting as well. Not sure how it worked, but it was cool to watch.

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**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-coil/195822/22 "2003-08-19T03:18:37Z")

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Ah yes, the TC paintings. The process is pretty simple. He has a large glass surface covered with (oil based?) paint. The glass surface has ground connections on it somewhere - I’m guessing at the corners upon which it is supported. Electrical discharges are directed at the surface from an upside-down TC suspended from the ceiling. The high frequency electricity is able to travel across the glass, through the paint - which pushes it around in weird ways - towards the ground connections.

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**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-coil/195822/23 "2003-08-19T03:23:57Z")

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Ah yes, the TC paintings. The process is pretty simple. He has a large glass surface covered with (oil based?) paint. The glass surface has ground connections on it somewhere - I’m guessing at the corners upon which it is supported. Electrical discharges are directed at the surface from an upside-down TC suspended from the ceiling. The high frequency electricity is able to travel across the glass, through the paint - which pushes it around in weird ways - towards the ground connections.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@bbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbeaty)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-coil/195822/24 "2003-08-19T05:26:13Z")

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TC paintings on [Dave Archer’s](http://www.davearcher.com/) site.

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